You're It
by Lunaurora
Summary: [Third Chapter uploaded...] Sure, there's Jessie and James, Pokémon Tech, the bike gang and the world of Team Rocket. But what if another attribute was thrown into the mix? .::Rocketshippy::.
1. Catch a falling star...

You're It

This is a little test one for me. After my first romance, I've decided to move from Herpedentshipping (since no one could provide any name for a Pikachu + Ekans/Arbok ship... I... uh... made one up myself? Get it? Herpetology + Rodent? Geez, I suck a lot...) to the ever-so-popular, Rocketshipping. Gotta love Rocketshipping, peeps!

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Title: You're It

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Author: Destiny Fox

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Rating: G - depends on whether you want any more chapters in this...

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Summary: This'll get bigger (maybe) - as I said before - and it should reflect onto Jessie and James' past... with an added twist...

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Extra notes: Give it a chance. At the moment it's just James and a familiar spirit... oh - I feel nausea coming on... This fic should suck if I wrote it! It really does! My longest ficcie yet, at 21 pages on Microsoft Word (on size 12)! I've never been able to write more than 11KB in one go...

Thanks to the people who reviewed :+: Regret :+: (2 peeps did - extra special thanks 2 Mystery Squeezit, who posted my 100th review ::yippee::)!! Luv y'all.

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Chapter 1: Catch a Falling Star

__

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.  
  
For love may come and tap you on the shoulder  
some starless night.  
Just in case you feel you want to hold her  
You'll have a pocketful of starlight.  
  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.  
  
For love may come and tap you on the shoulder  
some starless night.  
Just in case you feel you want to hold her  
You'll have a pocketful of starlight.  
  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.  
  
For when your troubles start multiplyin'  
and they just might.  
It's easy to forget them without tryin'  
With just a pocketful of starlight.  
  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.

Life is not easy. I worked that out ages ago, when I was about six, at that matter. 

Because I was a young boy in a society of riches and wealth, I was destined to be married to Jessibelle, another member of the upper class order. She was my fiancée - the one I had to marry before 24 hours of my parents passing in order to claim my inheritance (which was an amount of over $200 000 000). Her hair was the most gorgeous strawberry-red, held in two sausage-like pigtails. She was the prettiest girl I had ever encountered. But, masked by the face of an angel, her beauty was only skin-deep, as I found out shortly after I met her. Beneath her façade, she was a callous witch constantly trying to change me from my fun-loving self to a well brought up gentleman with only one goal - to ensure that the family name, Morgan, lives well into the next generations. 

I was taught everything to be known about being proper, by Jessibelle. She disciplined me ruthlessly every time I did something wrong - like not being civilized in front of visitors etc. With one strike of her bull-whip she could make me do whatever her cold heart desires - if she had a soul. Every lash left a long, bloody scar that would remain there for years upon years. Trying to turn me into something I'm not and will never be, she didn't give up, greedy for the riches she'll have once she does train and enter the matrimonial state with me by her side. The very thought had always sent a shiver down my spine.

So, I had a choice - marry Jessibelle, be the richest guy on the planet and live my mortality as an empty shell looking for my core (Growly was my only friend on that confined estate!). Or be free of her and live the life of a released soul. 

I chose to be liberated.

But Jessibelle made sure my dream was short-lived and tortured me even more - until the day that my savior came into my being...

~~~~

I ran.

I tried to ignore the pounding pain in my chest as I tried to hold back a forlorn wail. A stitch was also manifesting from within my ribs. Growly's paws dashed alongside mine. My heart beat hard and agonizingly. 

I turned this way... then the other... I was supposed to know the hedge-maze off by heart, but my fear overcame my mind. 

I knew Jessibelle was hot on my trail, whipping her long whip at my heels, scaring the back of my heels. 

I didn't care. 

Just minutes ago, she had been tutoring me how to greet household visitors. I gulped at the memory. It was one of the worst hours of my life! After I had enough, I pushed her aside (something I wouldn't do - as much as I hated her, I didn't want to be whipped a few extra times) and fled out into my mansion's tremendous garden. In the far corner, there lay a hedge-maze. I decided to hide there - thinking she wouldn't find me (she had always avoided the hedge-maze at all costs - it wasn't proper to get lost from within masses of shrubbery). My memory of every entrance and exit, every intersection and dead-end was plastered on the back of my brain.

She wouldn't be able to find me if her very life depended on it!

How wrong I was.

A dead end. My tears had blurred my vision... I didn't know where I was going and it cost me my one chance at freedom!

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

Choking back a few tears, I threw a glance over my shoulder to see that the madwoman had stopped in her tracks and was bent over at the waist with one hand on her chest and the other balancing her weight on her knee. 

Seeing that I had stopped, she lifted her head and growled before advancing toward me. With each enormous slow step she took in the direction of myself, I secured a timid step backwards. She hand clenched and unclenched around the bull-whip handle in her hand. The long thin streamer-like piece lay readily on the ground - waiting to slash me again.

"Yo-You're not... running... properly!" she panted between deep exhales. She scowled at me and pulled a PokéBall from one of the pockets in her pink, elaborate dress. Smirking, she hurled it at my feet and shouted a command, "go, Oddish!" A plant-like creature materialized from the orb.

I bit my bottom lip nervously. 

"Oddish, Stun Spore! Paralyze James, dear!" she cried happily, pointing at me. Squeezing my eyes shut and wincing, I prepared myself for immobility when suddenly, I heard a welcome outcry.

I felt a breeze pass by as a desirable presence crossed my path. 

"Growlithe!" Growly barked, jumping out in front of me. Sending out a ball of flame, he destroyed every bit of Stun Spore that lingered in the air. I watched in amusement as Jessibelle screamed, turned to run away, but tripped and fell into a prickly bush, covering her frock in viridian, evergreen leaves. She screamed in horror and yelled out for someone to get her out of the thicket.

From my side, Growly turned to me with his tail wagging pleasantly and his tongue poking out from the side of his mouth. I smiled down at him and ruffled the fur on his head playfully.

"Come on, Growly," I said heading back the way we came, "we'd better go before Hopkins finds that bat like that."

Smiling in the way only a dog can, he barked and followed me. We took the path that led us to the side opposite to the one I came in - it led to the front gate. It was the kind at the front of all fancy places, with the columns of bars and the stone griffins held aloft by the tall walls on either side. I studied the look on their faces for a moment. It was almost as if they longed to be free too, but where prisoners of the marble in which they were encased! 

There was one thing on my mind - freedom. If I got past the iron entrance, I would be autarchic. Whether or not anyone found me, I'd finally have a taste of liberation!

Smiling to myself, I emerged from the bushes and brushed myself off. Looking ahead, I saw the gates that stopped anything getting in... or getting out - namely me. I beckoned Growly to follow me as I approached the metal bars of the portal. Idly, but cautiously, I ran a hand down one of the painted, white poles. From alongside me, Growly sniffed the base and pulled away, with a look of disgust on his canine face.

My eyes trailed along the length (horizontal ways) of the gate. Holding the gates together was some sort of device - probably the electronic security gadget that kept them from being opened.

Maybe if I got Growly to... then maybe I could...

"Growly," I whispered so no one could here me. From where I was, I could still hear Jessibelle's wails, "burn that thing into ashes." I pointed to the accessory. As quietly as he could, he let a ribbon of fire pour from his mouth and melt it.

I beamed and petted him once more. "Good job, boy," I praised softly. I carefully pushed the gate open, trying not to make the harsh sound to loud of rusty iron and squeezed through the gap between them. 

As the fire puppy followed me, I heard the most horrible noise ever!

"James dear!!?" Jessibelle's cries echoed from where she stood from within the hedge-maze. My senses and the heavy throbbing from my heart told me to hurry before she found me again.

"Quick," I pushed past Growly, not caring if anyone heard me. If they did, it would've taken forever to find me. Motioning for my faithful pet to take my lead, I started in the direction of freedom. 

In that moment of joy, I felt freer than I ever had before. I cast one last look over the estate and continued to run. 

I poked my tongue out at no one in particular (but if I had to name people, specifically Jessibelle or my parents) and smiled. Growly's happy barks mixed in with the sounds of the birds chorusing in the trees. I paused in my sprint to rest on beneath a tree on the soft green grass, in the shade. I savored the moment while I could by closing my eyes and feeling the rush of the wind along my cheek.

"It's a nice day for walking," I commented, running a hand through the pup's fringe of cream fur, "isn't it, boy?"

In reply, I heard a small snort of agreement.

Growly panted and rested his head peacefully in my lap he peered up at my with the most inquisitive eyes. I glanced back right at him and smiled warmly. He lifted his head to lick the tip of my nose playfully, before I had the chance to peel off the vest that I was made to wear. Sprinting really wears you out!

The dog continued to wag his tail while I leant back against the tree with my hands behind the back of my head, leisurely. From the corner of my eye, I studied my surroundings.

Trees. Everywhere, practically. They were strung along a dirt road - supposed to be used for walking - in a messy order. No Pokémon though. Growly and me probably spooked them off. 

Suddenly, footsteps!

My eyes opened in horror. What if it was Jessibelle? Or my parents? Or Hopkins? Swiftly, but as silently as I could I quickly beckoned Growly to follow me. I crept behind a nearby tree and beckoned him with my foot.

His expression displayed puzzlement. With a cocked head, he smile-smirked at my behavior as if I was playing a joke. "Growly!" I whispered in frustration. It suddenly struck me.

What if I had just imagined it? I probably did...

I gave a gasp of surprise as a girl burst from the bushes a little way down the road from where I had just walked a few minutes ago. 

Startled, I kept my body hidden behind the tree I had decided to cover in back of before. To my amazement, I saw a girl about my age dash down the path, whisking, with her eyes darting in all direction for a place to hide.

She hesitated when she had gone about ten metres to check behind her and stumble onto her knees. Under her arm was a loaf of bread and a $50 bill was clutched in her hand tightly. Blowing, she wiped a hand across her brow to rid her eyes of a few strands of loose red hair.

Jessibelle!

"Growly, quick!" I hissed again in annoyance. Growly took a peek over his shoulder and shrugged in a way only a canine could. He didn't seem to notice that Jessiebelle was right there! God, how blind could a dog be?

Suddenly Jessibelle turned to face me. Then I saw it. She wasn't Jessibelle at all!

Under her old and weather beaten cap, her ruby mane of hair had been pulled untidily into a loose ponytail with a few strands poked out in odd places. Her eyes pierced my soul. Not displaying viscous means, but the played through my mind with vitality. They displayed a spirit-like sapphire-blue colour, filled with fear, but from within, shone the pure soul of a friend. 

This definitely wasn't Jessibelle.

Her clothes were baggy and didn't seem to fit without getting in her way. An unkempt jacket hung loosely across a pair of slender shoulders, with a tank top underneath. Khaki pants rested on her hips and a pair of white (at least I think they were supposed to white) sneakers.

She gave me a look of bewilderment as she caught me gazing back. Before taking a few wary steps back, she shook away whatever thought she was thinking that was attached to me and tearing eyes away from my own. Then she ran away into the foliage. 

I blinked and lowered my glance to where Growly sat, oblivious to the girl that stood just metres away before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

__

I wandered around in the garden aimlessly. The wonderful scent of the flowers drew me further into the enclosure for plants. Flowers of all different kinds were scattered across the yard in groups arranged in a beautiful pattern (as seen from, from above) of distinct colours. 

As I walked past a bed of roses, I bent down and inhaled the sweet aroma of a red bud. I sighed happily and smiled.

I suddenly sensed a presence. I stood up straight and turned around. 

No one. When I twisted back around, I saw her. The girl from my illusion. The girl that only **I** saw. The girl that diverted my attention and got me captured once again. She stood on the other side of the rose bush, holding a blossom in her hand delicately. A smile was spread across her thin lips daintily. I smiled back as a blush crept across my cheek cheekily. She giggled playfully and beckoned me to come to where she stood.

I did what she wished and skipped mindlessly around the square in which the roses were arranged. Suddenly, I was faced with an angel.

She giggled again and blushed an equally red crimson. I took the rose from her hand and brushed away the strands of ruby hair that hung across her left ear and placed it in the mass of red. Unlike this morning, her hair was brushed out so that it hung around her knees. And her disheveled clothes had been replaced by silky scarlet gown that matched her hair perfectly. 

Her eyes glittered in a way that seemed to grip me and lock me into that position. I couldn't help but stare.

She lowered her long lashes slowly in a dream state as she gazed into my own pools of green. I loved the way we were jewel-toned...

The emerald eyes of my own... her individual sapphire... her gorgeous mane of ruby... and my shiny, azure hair. 

Sighing, she leant in on me and laid her head on my chest and snuggled into it lovingly. To my surprise, she began to purr - just like a comforted kitty cat. Hesitantly, as not to scare her off, I put my arms around her and rocked from side to side. I'm sure she felt my heart throbbing with intense pressure. After a few moments, I had the courage to speak. I guess she sensed that I was about to talk because she lifted her head and gazed into my eyes as I opened my mouth.

My heart continued to pulse so heavily that it hurt! 'Say something!' my mind screamed.

"Wh... who are... you?" I asked uneasily. I felt like smacking myself right then and there for sounding like such a jerk! How much more stupider can I get? 

She smiled and batted her eyes lightly. She opened her mouth to speak and I found myself grow agitated quickly. What did her voice sound like? 

With a soft sigh, she said, "You'll find out soon..." I smiled tenderly in return. Even though she didn't reveal her identity, I was rewarded by something just as sweet. Suddenly, her face turned transparent and see-through!

A look of serenity fell over her face and she took a step away from me to show that her whole body was crystalline. And then... she was nowhere. 

For some odd reason, my brow began to sweat heavily. Wetness rolled down my cheeks and onto my clothes and hair...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Growly!" I cried, reaching upwards into the darkness to feel a bushy fringe with folded over a wet snout that had burrowed itself into my face. I laughed and playfully shoved him off of my chest and beside me. Straightening out my blue Pikachu pajama top, I threw him a smile.

I held a hand to my heart and felt it beating at maximum speed. From next to me, Growly smiled slyly and nudged me with his paw as if he knew about what I was dreaming just before. I felt the crimson blush across my cheeks burn with a vengeance.

Just this afternoon, my parents bodyguards found me after I had run away while Jessibelle's... 'training'. I sighed at the thought and flipped over in my bed so that I lay on my stomach. Propping my upper body up with my elbows, I reached under my fluffy, white pillow to grasp a bronze frame. Emotionally, I pulled it out and held in front of my face gingerly. Freeing one arm, I let my index finger run along the grass that encased the form of my grandpapa, Esquire Gregory Morgan. 

In the old and slightly faded photo, he was in his mid sixties, a few years before his... 'passing' - I never liked to refer to the incident as 'death'. He had cancer... His right hand was laid on a Growlithe's head, which had a red scarf tied around her neck. (The dog's name was Esmarelda, named after Grandpapa's grandmother and my great, great grandmother. From what he told me, she was a beautiful Growlithe and the mother of Growly!) Under his left arm was tucked that wretched cane which he hated so much. (He never liked his wooden walking stick - it gave the impression that he was old!)

His soft and kind green eyes peered back lovingly at me and his permanent smile remained plastered on his lips - he still wore a smile at his funeral. His optimistic attitude had always reassured me. A cleanly kept snowy white mustache made up for the bald patch that had taken up almost the top half of his head. He wore a shopworn white shirt with a brown jacket over the top. His matching mahogany trousers were an item of clothing which Growly and I loved so. A silken black tie was fixed around his neck and tucked into the coat smoothly. It completed the gentle look of my beloved grandpapa. 

I sniffled quietly and watched as a few tears slid down my cheek and onto the delicate glass. From beside me, Growly nudged my shoulder timidly. Casually, I wrapped an arm around his furry neck and pulled him closer so that we were cheek to cheek. 

Tucking the photo back under the pillow, I snuggled deeper into Growly's fur. With a moments passing, I released him and finally said something. 

I smiled again weakly, but the sorrow underneath still prevailed. "Oh, Growly," I said, my voice threatening to crack, "I miss him so much!" 

I wiped away a few cascading tears with my fingers and dried it across my pillow. Growly, after licking my lament off of his snout, decided that it was best if he stayed beside me that night and crawled underneath the Butterfree blankets on my bed, resting his head beside my pillow. Within a few seconds, he was dreaming.

__

Maybe I should get to sleep too, I thought, flipping over onto my back and rested my hands behind my head, leisurely,_ maybe I might dream and see that girl again!_ With a glimmer of hope, I closed my eyes and tried to drift off to sleep.

Suddenly, I felt a gust of wind caress my face gently. Opening my eyes and looking to the left, I saw that the window (or door - whatever you want), that led to a mini-verandah, was blown free. With a sigh, I began to sit up and close it, but something stopped me.

A figure in white stood at the foot of my bed. It was that girl from my dream and illusion! Instinct told me that my first reaction was to hug Growly in fear, but I couldn't. Somehow, I could sense that this being was a spirit, but a friendly one at that. She smiled and walked to where I was about to stand. As her bottom half came into view, I saw only a long white nightgown, but no feet or legs. The train seemed to fade off into the floor.

Every strand of her hair seemed to have a mind of it's own, and the wind played with its ends and the trim of her dress. With a fluttery sound escaping from her throat (if she had one), she lowered herself down next to me. Slowly, I eased myself to lay back down, but this time on my side so that I was facing her. 

My reflexes told me to fear her - since she was a ghost - but something clicked inside that made me feel like I wanted her near me! 

I glanced down at Growly who replied with a snort and turned back to the spirit who, like me, also lay on her side. Silently, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against my own - hard! 

My heart skipped a beat. And my eyes almost popped out of my sockets!

Happiness made way for surprise. I wasn't expecting her to kiss me! Her lips felt so soft against my own. I closed my eyes to let the feeling sink in. I so wished to return the gift, but my pride stood in the way - plus, you can't kiss a ghost. Embarrassed, I pulled away to gaze into equally ashamed blue eyes. A light blush crept across the bridge of her nose and I felt one of my own coming on too!

It was the first time I had ever been kissed. Properly, that is, because none of Jessibelle's count. A tingly sensation remained where her lips had pressed against mine - though she was a spirit, she left the most wonderful feeling on my heart. Slowly, she opened her mouth to speak. 

"Don't let Jessibelle hurt you," she said in a low whisper, "stand up to her and don't let her stand in your way to following your heart to the one you desire most." Her voice was as angelic as before. She closed her eyes and snuggled into my chest and purred - just like in my dream. With a moments realization that she was asleep, I, too, slipped into slumber...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three things woke me up on the following morning:

  1. the sunrise.
  2. Growly licking my nose.

and

  3. the butler, Hopkins, calling me from downstairs.

Once again, I pushed Growly off of my chest and quickly looked to my side in a wide-eyed search for the mysterious visitor. 

__

She wasn't there anymore. With a deep sigh of sadness, I stepped out of bed and slipped a azure robe - that matched my hair - over my shoulders and lugged across my bedroom. Growly gave me a look of bewilderment and cocked his head, puzzled. Memories of the young girl and our kiss were still imprinted in my mind like a picture. 

At the reminiscence, I smiled and felt my heart beat pick up pace. Growly snorted and shook his head in annoyance. 

Seeing him do this, I knelt down beside him and ruffled the fringe across his head playfully. "Do you remember a girl with long red hair?" I asked him with a broad grin.

Growly simply grunted in return and tilted his head to the other side with that cute side-ways smirk that he always did. It meant that he thought I was off my rocker. I sighed. But still, I pressed on the question. I stood up, but leant the palms of my hands on my knees and propped my shoulders up so I stared him in his eyes.

"Do you?" I repeated, this time with more force and anxiety in my voice. 

All of a sudden, his ears perked and he nodded his head happily. 

"You do?" I asked. I wasn't the only one who saw her after all! I smiled and patted his fringe. He suddenly jumped back and started growling. After casting him a perplexed look, he attempted to bark and grunt a bit more. From what I could figure out, he was talking about Jessibelle. I frowned.

"I'm not talking about... her," I said, putting extra emphasis on the _her_. "I'm talking about a different girl..." 

With that, he tilted his head once again as a sign of bewilderment. The canine remained confused and I abandoned the issue. 

Suddenly, the floorboards behind me creaked. "James dearest," I heard Jessibelle say after clearing her throat. I turned to see that she was standing in the door, "it's time you "

With another impatient cry from below and a whine from Jessibelle, I headed for the staircase and beckoned Growly to follow. He did so, stopping to snicker at Jessibelle for no apparent reason, who shot him daggers in retort. I sighed though I knew that that old witch wouldn't try anything with Growly as long as I was there. 

I liked the placement of my room - between one of the seven bathrooms and the stairway to the attic, my favourite place in the whole mansion, with the minor exception of the poorly constructed tree house in the oak tree next to my bedroom's mini-verandah. I loved it nevertheless. 

My sleeping compartment door led to a hallway, lined with fancy lights and such. Beside my bathroom was a restricted room - I haven't had the chance to look into it yet, because my parents do whatever it takes to keep me out of there. It must contain something private! I had always claimed to the servants that I could, indeed, keep secrets. They believed me, but constantly replied with a... negative... answer.

Beside the secret room, was a grand staircase. You know, the one's they have in all mansions with the hundreds of steps that led into a sort of, entrance room where there was nothing but a few sculptures here and there of past generations that lived in the house. 

What I hated about it, is the fact that Jessibelle has made so many do's and don'ts to forwarding up and down it. Such as, 'don't slide down the railing on your behind - it causes rashes.' She was right about that one. 

Upon reaching the very top of the flight, Jessibelle appeared at my side and instantly latched onto my arm, interlocking hers with mine. As I turned to through her a horrified look, she smirked and started pulling me downwards.

That was practically how every morning started for me. At the age of 10, I had everything a boy could dream of. Every type of game console available (even the ones unobtainable in most 'common' stores!), unlimited food, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, servants that served your every desire... it would seem like heaven to anybody... anybody but me.

All this came at a cost. Try having no friends at all except for a Pokémon. Try having parents that drill it into your mind that you're stupid and useless. Try having an abusive fiancé who enjoys beating you up mercilessly. Try having a spirit visit you night by night and find that you love her, but know that she can't you back because she's not real.

I went through it year by year. Growly, at first, had thought me as insane, staring out my bedroom window on rainy days to see the flame haired girl, holding an umbrella in hand and a blue raincoat draped over her shoulders, jumping into puddles and afterwards, seeking shelter from the storm under a tree. At one point, she was standing right in front of Growly, but he was unable to see her, no matter how hard I persuaded him to try. I once told Jessibelle (I was desperate to find someone who also saw her), who turned her nose up at the 'improper idea.'

But, in time, Growly had become used to the apparition he couldn't see.

There was a benefit to her being unseen to everyone but me. In the times of depression, she comforted me, at my side, crying my tears. In times of jubilation, we celebrated together, with arms interlocked and hugging. In times of pain, she healed my wounds and kissed them better, making them instantly better. There wasn't a doubt in the world that I, indeed, had fallen in love with her.

But, there was a thought that plagued my mind through the tenderness she showed toward me. _Was she even real? Or is she just another fantasy conjured up by my lonely heart? What if she's real? Would I be able to find her? If so, how? Where?_

Many reflections raced continuously in my head, making me dizzy at times. 

One day, she showed me something... amazing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was sitting in my room, on my bed with Growly for the afternoon after another day with Jessibelle. She came to my house every day except Saturday, when I played tennis with the servants (she was allowed to join in if she wanted, but she couldn't stand ruining her best dresses - so she stayed at her estate which she talks about non-stop). 

Jessibelle had been teaching me all the proper ways to sit on a chair since I couldn't perfect it the day before with falling flat on my face or scrape my posterior on the floor, causing a painful carpet rash. 

My attire was the same as usual. A red sweater with a Raichu knitted on the front, a plain, white shirt underneath, and a pair of blue pants. 

I sighed and laid on my back on the newly ironed sheets and stared at the ceiling. It had been painted only a week ago, only to be covered with Mew wallpaper instead (I didn't like the colour yellow ocher - it looked like vomit if you stared at it longed enough, because it was arranged in this hideous chunky pattern). 

The decorate was repeated, letting people see it in 3D if they wanted. Somehow, I was never able to - though everyone else knew how (even Jessibelle could, but she preferred not to waste her time with... my 'pitiful hobbies' - what a waste). 

Suddenly, with a yelp, Growly leapt into my stomach, from his place of the wooden floor, sending a sudden jolt of pain through my belly. I sat up quickly, minimizing the agony. Resisting the urge to throw up afternoon tea, I held a hand to my mouth to stop anything coming out and used my other to move the oversized puppy dog off my lap and beside me.

I wondered what made him so jumpy all of a sudden. I leant over to where, before, he sat on the floor sleeping. And, there it was.

"What's that?" I asked no one in particular. I screwed my nose up at it and leant over the edge of my bed to get a closer look at whatever it was.

'It' was a tattered hardback book, about the size of a normal diary. Curiously, I picked it up and ran a hand over the cover. The brown-stained red material felt rough and old under my fingers. Like papaya leaves. I let my palm roam on along the exterior, all the way to the spine. It was practically torn apart, with the exception of the cover and the pages within. The word 'Journal' was written across the face in golden thread and glittered in the sunlight that glowed on it from the afternoon sun, which shone through the window.

"Growly," I said, turning to him with a smirk on my face and laying the book on my bed, "why are you so afraid of a book?" 

Half expecting him to answer, I ruffled the hair on his head playfully and not caring about what the book might hold. Cautiously, as if it were booby-trapped, I reached forward to lift the book's cover open to the first double page, when I heard a gust of wind and a twig snap from outside of my window. Quickly, I snapped it shut without hesitation. Looking outside, I saw her again. 

The ghost. 

After almost a year of having an apparition visit me daily (and sometimes nightly), I still didn't know her name and referred to her as, _The Spirit _or_ The Ghost_. 

She was sitting on a tree branch of the oak outer. With a smile and a shy blush, she made her presence known. Swinging her legs back and forth, trying to maintain her balance, though I knew she couldn't harm herself in her specter-like state. She probably wouldn't even hit the ground with floating in the way only a ghost could.

Unlike our first meeting, I was used to her constant visits, becoming quite comfortable around her, and smiled at her and beckoned her to come in with my hand. As I spun back around, I saw that Growly had backed away from the mysterious book considerably. As I threw him a confused look, I heard the window creak open and the spirit take a step into my room. 

Growly lifted his head to the ceiling and let out a long howl. Snapping around, I narrowed my eyes at him as my mouth was pulled from a warm smile into a scowl.

"Growly!" I cried in a whisper, "be quiet, boy!" Growlithe winced at the unexpected harshness of my voice. 

The thought of another lesson on being quiet in the house with Jessibelle filled my mind and I shivered. Plus, it was my own free time she would be wasting, which I surely didn't want. I treasured my free time greatly.

"Do you want Jessibelle to come?" I demanded, my voice still in a hush. With his ears back and flat and his eyes glistening with tears, he shook his head roughly. The spirit watched our exchange with a casual air. She knew who Jessibelle was and despised her as much as I did. 

I smiled in return as Growly confided to my wish. As I reached down to reward him with a pat, he let out a sharp, but loud and accented yelp of fright, letting himself jolt backwards in alarm. 

"Growly!" I hissed. I heard the spirit mumble something behind me. I spun around to see that a smile played across her thin lips and she was holding the journal to her chest comfortingly. There was something wrong with the book, though. A blue aura glowed from it, as she held it, in a misty way, blending out so that it faded. 

Quietly, Growly scampered off the bed in fear and scuttled out of my room in a scramble.

I gasped as she thrust the book into my hands, swiftly and roughly, making it obvious that she wanted me to have it. With my eyes wide and my mouth gaping I peered down at the book, then into her own eyes fearfully, then back to the book.

It's pages were vibrating terribly, sending waves of tremors up my spine. I gulped as the book's front cover lift up and slammed into my left arm firmly, causing me to let out a yelp of sudden pain. The girl's smile no longer remained, but was replaced by a look that displayed neither sadness nor her normal happiness. More of a look of worry.

"Did you open the journal before I came?" she asked. Confused and mixed up inside, I shook my head slowly, unsure of what my answer should be. My conscience told me that the truth would be a better ally in this case. 

She accepted the reply and the beginnings of another grin crept across her mouth slightly. "What do I..." I asked, but my voice trailed away. The girl held up a hand to stop me.

"Read the first page," she ordered, almost in a whisper, and pointed at the book. 

At first, I didn't know what to make of her request, but I peered down at it. On the page was a wonder of loopy handwriting and small ink drawings of Pokémon - mainly a Growlithe (whom I identified as Growly) and a Meowth (which struck me as weird, because at the time, I didn't have any interest in cat-like Pokémon). But it wasn't the story in which the words knotted into. It was something else...

On the top left-hand corner, was stapled a photo. It was a Growlithe, sitting under a tree next to a man of about twenty years of age. He was wearing normal, everyday attire that wasn't expected of the upper-class : a gray shirt with a pair of jeans. His bluish-purple hair, would have reached to his shoulders, if it weren't tied back, leaving a few strands to poke out in odd places. On his lap, sat a woman, the same age. His arm was wrapped around her waist comfortingly. She wore a light blue, dress which only reached to about her mid thigh. Her red hair was also tied back, but it was significantly longer, the strands cascading down her back and onto the grass. Large blue eyes complemented the sunflower that was being placed in her hair by the man's free hand.

Suddenly, the man seemed to strike me as familiar. I would recognize those green eyes anywhere! Every time I looked into my bedroom mirror, I would see the most odd emerald eyes stare back... was it...?

I smiled and slowly let my gaze lead itself to the spirit's face. "I-It's... me..." I half-breathed, half-gasped, with realization flooding into my brain. She nodded in reply. "But, in the photo... I'm almost in my twenties... how could that be...? And is that... you?"

She smiled warmly again. "This diary has been taken from the future." 

Naturally, I was puzzled.

Before I could ask her how she got the ability to take things from the coming, she spoke out the answer for me. I groaned and seated myself onto my bed, because my legs were beginning to become tired of supporting my upper half.

"The craft of removing certain things from the future comes with being a ghost. But, it is unable to be explained..." she defined, pausing to smirk. "I can just do it. See?"

All of a sudden, she lifted and waved her hand in the air in a fluent motion. A puff of smoke emerged from the palm of her hand and as it cleared, I saw a doughnut in its place. She held it out in front of me, her expression telling me to take it. I did, after setting the journal onto my lap. To my surprise, it was solid, just like a real doughnut. Tentatively, I held it to my mouth and took a small bite. It also tasted like a doughnut!

I grinned ear to ear, impressed. "Cool," I complimented happily, popping the remains of the pastry into my mouth, munching on the enticement pleasantly. Quickly, as I wiped a few crumbs off of the book in my front, I noticed that her joyful look had turned into a sad grimace.

"I had to tell you something about it..." she sighed lowering her gaze, "something important that depends on whether I'll make it to that age or not..."

I gulped as a thought struck me like a ton of bricks, "You'll be leaving me?!" I cried, almost dropping the book in my rush to step toward her, "please don't! Other than Growly, you're the only one who's been there for me... I love you..." 

I had told her that I'd loved her on several occasions. But, back then, it was moe of a brother-sister love. We had bonded over the past year, but I couldn't stand being without her for even an hour! A lifetime without love would be unbearable!

Quickly, she reacted by wrapping her arms around me, "I won't go anywhere," she cooed, her embrace comforting me, though I couldn't feel it, "it depends on whether you make the right choices..."

I was fast to respond with fear, "Right choices?!"

"Yes," she replied softly. "Let me explain..." She motioned for me to sit down. I did so, before she took her place beside me, "I am a spirit. You are a person. As you've probably figured out, you're the only one who has the ability to see me."

A smirk was quick to fall upon me. "I noticed that."

"In reality, I don't exist. I'm simply a fantasy thought up by a torn and lonely heart - your very soul-mate, only... not alive." She seemed uneasy around the matter and rubbed her upper arms with her hands. "But I can change that," she clarified, tracing the folds in my sheets with her finger, "I can become human. It's quite easy, actually. All _you_ have to do is put your hand on the book and say something, but first, the journal." 

With that, she took the book from me and opened it up to the first page, skipping the one with the photo and the loopy handwriting, to be faced with a page full of calligraphy-like writing. 

"This is your diary from the point I become a living, breathing human, to the point in which I turn back into a spirit. It's yours. See?" She let her hand trail across the top of the page in which a date was writing neatly and underlined in red pen. 24-06-1988, "that date is only a day away : tomorrow. Destiny has told us that I will become a human today."

My heart leapt out of my mouth, practically. "You're going to become a human? Today?" I smiled. But then how is she going about staying alive when she warned me that she may become a spirit again. All hell would break loose then!

"But... there is an underside to it," she sighed sadly, her voice beginning to sound more frail, "if you display any physical love toward me... then, I can't remain in a living state - that means, that I'll return to my spirit form."

My frown matched hers. I bit my bottom lip nervously. "Oh..."

I so wanted to ask why... but at the time, sadness had completely overcome me...

As much as I was in love with a person who, indeed, did not exist, I wasn't allowed to show it. And no matter how hard I tried to hide it, I found a crystalline tear rolling down my cheek gently. I ignored it and let it drop down onto the old cotton Pikachu-covered sheet with a light splash. My neck failed to support my head at this sudden fact entered my brain, freezing my nerves, so I allowed myself to lean over weakly. At this, I felt the girl's lamentation drip onto my sweater, though I couldn't feel her arms.

I could see that her limbs were wrapped around my shoulders... but I couldn't feel it. 

"But hugging isn't against my existing, so we can hug as much as we like." She barely managed to crack a weak smile. With that, I laughed back dryly in return. 

At that hopeful statement, I felt myself become determined to be around her 24/7. A growing boldness told me that once she became a living, breathing human being, I'd hug her as much as possible!

"Come on," she said, taking my chin into her hands, "Cheer up. I'm pretty sure there's a way around it... or at least... that's what I thought..." 

"You can't be so positive about a matter such as this," I frowned despite the grin that remained, transparent, on her lips, "how is there a way around it?" I breathed audibly. "I won't ever be able to love you without having to make lo..." With haste and embarrassment, I let my voice trail off into nowhere. I felt a light blush creep across my cheeks. The girl giggled childishly.

She chuckled again before continuing. "There's a special crystal," she said. I turned my head upwards so that her eyes met mine. I wasn't sure that there was hope shining at the end of that dark and damp tunnel... But there was! 

I felt my heart jump in joy from within my ribs. 

"It will come... in time," she continued, "you'll have to be patient. When you finally do, you can undo the spell in which I am trapped within and free me."

I blinked in amazement. There was really an assurance? "Then what?" I beckoned her verbally, with a bit too my eagerness in my voice. 

Her eyelashes fluttered in that way I loved. "Then I'll forever be yours," she whispered softly, her sweet breath tickling my cheek as she leaned forward slightly. But before she could tilt herself into an embrace, she stopped. "But first I have to become human."

With a deep blush, I sighed. 

Silently, she took my hand tenderly and placed it on the book gently. Watching her actions, confused, I looked for meaningful in her deep blue eyes. With that, she turned her vision to me, making my heart leap. 

"Repeat after me, okay?" she spoke softly.

"Kay," I replied with a firm nod of my head. I was zealous to make sure that this worked. Not knowing what the consequences of screwing up would be was causing me to become nervous!

"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket," she said slowly, making sure I could hear every single word.

A sense of familiarization came over me. They were the lyrics of that song which Grandpapa always sang to me!

"I know that tune! I remember it so well!" I cried in jubilation, beaming. 

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. With the most intimate shine I'd ever seen grace upon her, she gestured for me to continue with a swift cue.

"Never let it fade away," we sang together in harmony. Her singing glided gracefully above my own in a sweet soprano, as compared to my tenor. It was almost instinctive! Our vocalizing fitted in just like a lost jigsaw puzzle piece finally joining its other parts. "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day."

Suddenly, the window blew opened and a gust of wind blew around her like a miniature tornado, making her hair fly around her, almost encasing her completely. Leaves, from outside, intermingled with her crimson locks. A glowing aura surrounded her, making her glimmer with even more beauty. With a blink of astonishment and surprise, I blinked, but when I opened them again, she had completely transformed!

The gale had been blown away, leaving her hair to cascade down her back, with a more vibrant look. It was solid! Mystified, I gasped and took her face into my hands and found that she was, indeed, not just an apparition, but real! She turned a darker pink, only this time, it had a whole heap more colour.

Although I so wanted to kiss her right then and there, her eyes (which had retained more sapphire blue than I could ever imagine) told me that the sorcery wasn't over yet.

With her eyes brimming with tears of happiness, she continued. "For love may come and tap you on the shoulder..." 

"Some starless night," I added delicately. 

"And if you feel you really want to hold her." Biting her bottom lip nervously after adding her line of verse. Tentatively, I took her into my arms rock her gently form side to side. Her skin... so soft... For the first time in my life, I was able to take her into my arms and hold her with more courage than ever!

"You'll have a pocket full of starlight..." I smiled tenderly again. 

Abruptly, I noticed that she had suddenly disappeared into thin air! I gasped and fell back onto my bed, letting the diary drop onto the floor with a loud bang.

I was as frightened as ever! "Wait!" I cried into the ceiling, looking upwards, "where'd you go?! Come back!"

With a sigh, a mysterious, yet familiar voice called, echoing through my room. "Look in the diary." It was her!

Without a moments reconsidering, I flipped over onto my stomach and scanned the floor for the tattered

book. Once laying eyes upon it, I grasped it boldly and held it to my chest. I paused for a minute, waiting for an angry call from downstairs to keep my voice down. Nothing. They must've all been asleep. 

Cautiously and quietly, I opened the diary to the first page. Nothing. No photo. No writing from a day away. 

Everything was gone, I realized as I flipped through the pages. All except two lines of handwriting which was definitely not mine.

__

Find me. I'm somewhere. I will not know who you are, but you have to make me. Follow your heart to find me and make sure you find that crystal! Our love depends on it. It's your turn... you're it!

My eyes skimmed over it about five times, making sure I absorbed every detail. I was sure I had covered everything, but then I noticed something in the bottom corner.

__

I love you,

Jessie.

I blinked. _So your name's Jessie, is it?_ I thought with affection towards the neat script, _I love you too._

I bit my own lip and smiled for what seemed like the 100th time that night! With a far-away look in my green eyes, I sighed.

Leaning back onto my bed, I stared again at the Mew-covered ceiling, I spoke out to 'Jessie,' "I don't know who or where you are, but one day, I'll find you."

****

AN: Admit it. That sucks. Bad. Well, you have two options. In a review (I never check my e-mail _) tell me whether or not to continue, and I might think about it, kay? It's all in your paws. 

It can be left as just a little pointless story which should be ignored but I have a plot for future chapters! So shaddap if you're about to say that I don't make any sense!

Naturally, my first Rocketshippy story still sucks... no matter what you say... But, it's my longest fic yet (with the exception of Diatribe - maybe...)

****

~ Destiny Fox.

PS: I *did* hit Moon Wolf if you wanna know. And I'll do it again if you want!


	2. ...and put it in your pocket...

****

WARNING: before you read this, I must warn that this chapter _does_ include drug use, but not much. I'm giving it PG-13 just to be safe. 

No, I didn't travel half-way across the web just to get some low-down on some of the illegal drugs out there. It's mostly general knowledge. 

No, I don't do drugs.

No, this story is not a drug centric story. God bless TV commercials that show what happens to drug addicted brains. ::shudder::

****

Oh yeah, and one extra note: you know the bit in the first chapter when James opens the diary to find that the date on which the first entry was written was 24-6-88 (my sister's birthday - what?!)? I'll change that to 19-12-88, kay?

Wait! Before I leave y'all (I can see how you're eager for me to), I just wanted to say that... Without this fic, I would be... a veeeeery blocked writer... God bless this fic, it's my new favourite (of all the stories I wrote).

__

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.  
  
For love may come and tap you on the shoulder  
some starless night.  
Just in case you feel you want to hold her  
You'll have a pocketful of starlight.  
  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.  
  
For love may come and tap you on the shoulder  
some starless night.  
Just in case you feel you want to hold her  
You'll have a pocketful of starlight.  
  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.  
  
For when your troubles start multiplyin'  
and they just might.  
It's easy to forget them without tryin'  
With just a pocketful of starlight.  
  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Never let it fade away.  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day.

So, I ran away. I did it. I did what I swore to do.

Run.

Away from Jessibelle...

Away from my parents...

I remember grasping for Growly's red collar as I ran past my room with as much of my parents money as possible in my pockets. Along with a box containing paper clippings of Grandpapa's award-winning rose gardens and a life-times collection of bottle caps - which belonged to my Great-Grandpapa. 

I could see Jessibelle chasing me away from the Morgan estate and into the wilderness. 

I could hear her demands to come back.

I could feel my heart heaving in happiness...

...

I could finally have a true taste of freedom...

****

You're It - _Chapter 2 : ...and put it in your pocket..._

As I lay in the snow, looking into the dark, nighttime sky, I did nothing. Nothing but think. My entire body was numb, everything but my brain.

And if of anything, I would've wanted my brain to freeze over. It would end my torment.

__

You have failed... You have failed... a voice repeated over and over again in my head with a throbbing pain. Not just physical suffering, but emotional and mental as well. 

I felt a tear streak down my cheek lightly, before turning to ice and dropping to the ground in a heap of hail. The cold wind whipped against where it slid, causing my skin to sting with a vengeance.

Growly, my friend... my only friend... blinked in confusion. He had yet to learn about death. Every Pokémon has his sob-story... now he had his. Once I die, I'll go to heaven and I'll finally be in peace and free of Jessibelle - the monster whom I will forever fear.

Forever...

Maybe... just maybe, I'll be able to join... _Jessie._ She was dead, wasn't she? Simply a wandering soul without a body to contain it. A ghost.

I glared at the ground with narrow eyes. My last and only strand of hope had been used up by snow. If I weren't immobile, I would have hit the white ground in anger. It stole her.

The snow took my angel from me. 

Her sapphire eyes seemed to stare back at me as stars as I looked into the sky. They seemed so forlorn and sad, compared to what there were before in my dreams... so happy and full of jubilation. I breathed out an awkward puff of steamy air, the warm oxygen of my gasp combined with the icy, cruel wind of the outside, in a whiff of water vapor. 

The dog Pokémon cocked his head and leant down to lick at my frosty cheek. 

Suddenly, a vision flashed in my mind.

Her face. So supportive... So hopeful... For me... A lost tear of sadness and failure fell from her deep blue eyes and down her jaw in a splash of crystal.

Then, as quickly as she left an image of beauty upon my soul, she vanished. Only to appear again for a second, this time to hold a familiar red book in the crook of her arm and a rose in the palm of her hand. Still, with tears brimming her eyes, she beckoned for me to take it.

"Please... use this... please..." she seemed to moan in grief, looking into my eyes in that way I loved. 

Suddenly, at the sound of footsteps, she bit her lip and disappeared from my mind. As much as I tried, I couldn't see whoever it was. For some reason, I felt my arm supporting something. In agony, I desperately tried to find whatever it was with my eyes... with luck. It was a red book... that elusive diary!

__

How can I get it... if I'm frozen...? I thought in my mind, my musings wandering when I sensed a presence hovering above me, but I was pretty sure it wasn't Growly. 

Widening my eyes further weakly, I heard a gasp of fear and my conscience gave me the impression that someone was kneeling beside me. 

An angel... it was... her?

An angel has come to take me away? To heaven through the dark starry night, up into the clouds into new eternity of joy? 

Whoever it was, I was glad I wasn't going to linger to my death anyway... Even though I would've met my end at her side, I was semi-blissful not to suffer... even if it meant her mourning...

No...

It wasn't an angel. Though I could sense the radiance of one around the being, I could feel that the individual wasn't. But instantly, I knew this person was special. I realized it, when a bundle of strawberry hair fell into my view delicately, touching my lips softly for a second. Though I yearned to take a peek at my rescuer's identity, but was held back by the intense pain which had subdued my entire body.

Growly had backed away considerably and emitted a low growl in the back of his throat, pulling his lips back to bare his sharp teeth at the person. 

"Growly, no," I croaked effortlessly, turning away from my savior for just a second. 

The back of a hand was laid against my cheek, running itself along my jawline delicately. I felt my skin's freezing skin cling to the long fingers in reaction to the sudden warmth and a snowflake danced across the bridge of my nose. 

I tried to sigh and catch the person's attention enough for her to move in front of my gaze, so I could see finally whoever it was.

As he or she shuffled around to look into my eyes, the world spun in an array dizzy colours, every shade of blue, red, yellow, green, blue, any that ever existed in this existence, that slowly cycled fast enough to blend into darkness...

The only colour that lingered was a pretty sapphire blue... the same blue as my angels eyes...

~~~~~~

Warmth... comfort... Am I... in heaven?

My eyes remained closed like before. I opened my mouth to exhale a heavy, ragged breath. 

"... really? ... Now? Right now? ... Well, I can always put it into a plastic sandwich bag and give it to you in person tomorrow morning... Wait - let me get that down on paper..." a voice, mixed with the chewing of bubble-gum rang in my ears. From what I could hear, the voice sounded female and the conversation she was having was over a telephone. 

No... I wasn't in heaven... in a bed... with a cotton blanket.

I heard shuffling nearby and someone pocketing something not far from where I lay. Slowly, I opened my eyes. I didn't know what to do...

Without another second, I wiggled my fingers and turned on my side, to feel that I had my frigidity had worn away, to make way for synovial movements. Smiling to myself, I relished the feeling of a warm bed and pulled the blankets over myself tighter.

Turning my head to study my surroundings, I found that I was in a single-roomed house. The 'bed' I was sleeping on was a bunch of rags. The walls of the 'house' were drab brownish-gray.

Then, it dawned on me that I wasn't taken to a normal house. I was...underground? If I were, it was certainly impossible to predict what time it was. There were no signs of clocks or watches to refer to.

I realized that when I saw that where a wooden table and a half-full box of cheese pizza lay, there was a ladder, leading upwards into a tunnel that proceeded above the ceiling. But, considering that the house wasn't much to be proud of, it was dirt free, for most of the cement floor and walls.

My eyes trailed from the room to another presence in the room. I was right - she was female, which was evident because of her stance and long red hair that was tied back into a rough ponytail. 

Her back was turned to me, but I could easily see that she was wearing a blue denim jacket, with jeans, that fell over black sneakers. A device that strongly resembled a mobile phone was held to her ear as she strummed on the surface of the desk with red-painted fingernails.

Sighing, she ended her conversation with a quick, "well, see ya..." and lowered the black gadget into her view and pressed a button quickly. Slowly, she turned to look at me and I saw something I thought I wouldn't see for an eternity.

The first thing I saw when she spun around so suddenly to face me were a pair of large, beautiful, sapphire-blue eyes, framed with locks of misplaced scarlet hair. 

A denim jacket dangled freely from her shoulders, with a coal black tank top underneath. She also wore blue jeans to match the jacket, bringing the lovely hue of her eyes out further.

__

Jessie...belle?

It certainly looked like her, anyway. But... something inside me told me that this was, indeed, my angel, Jessie.

She peered down at me menacingly. "So..." she started, reaching up to take a strand of hair into long fingers, "ya finally woke up?" she yawned, "Took you long enough. What's your name, kid?" She twisted the curl around her index finger further with an impatient sigh. In her other hand she held a small brown paper wrapping, bulked with something within.

Though her choice of words wasn't quite what I expected, I was sure she was my angel... and I was determined to make her see that. Even if it meant sacrificing a few limbs to get there.

Suddenly, the memory of her last visit reminisced in my mind...

__

Find me. I'm somewhere. I will not know who you are, but you have to make me. Follow your heart to find me and make sure you find that crystal! Our love depends on it. It's your turn... you're it!

I'm it? I have to tag her... then she's it... but then it just happens all over again! This was practically just a game of childish tiggy, but with our love on the line... She obviously didn't remember me, though. As easy as this 'game' sounded - I was risking my destiny. I bit my lip nervously. "Umm..." I fumbled for words, "don't you remember?"

The girl didn't seem to approved of my answer as well as I'd have thought, because she planted her hands firmly on her hips and scowled down at me. Roughly, she spat her bubblegum across the room to land in a wastebasket.

"Don't play games with me, blue," she spat, with the harshness of homeless hooligan and with the confidence of a cat to a mouse. Hardly the tone of an angel if you asked someone else, but in my point of view, she was too beautiful to be even human... 

Quickly, I inhaled, "James," I spoke clearly, so she could hear. I was sure a hell that I didn't want to go through this again. I felt like an idiot, sitting on a makeshift bed of rags, with my fingers crossed behind my back as an omen of possible good luck. "James..." I repeated in a softer tone. Instantly, the introduction that had already been hammered into my brain melted away... _Master James Raymond Quentin Morgan the Seventh_. I sighed. 

The girl smirked and raised an eyebrow, "James, eh? Suits you." She side smirked and held out a hand. Tentatively I took it. "Well..." She heaved me to my feet easily, "umm..." She shuffled for words, but after a couple of seconds she waved it off. 

Roughly, she shook my hand. _This is definitely not Jessibelle!_ I told myself happily. I smiled back. I felt her eyes slowly travel across my body. Up and down. 

"So..." she started, seeming to be stumbling for words, "welcome..." she simply shrugged and threw her arms out to her sides briefly to gesture to the interior of the house, "...to my Hole in the Ground." She sighed and set a mobile phone and the small brown packet onto the wooden table. Murmuring something under her breath, she collapsed in the chair next to the counter.

I simply sat there, on my rags and dared not to speak. Unfortunately, the mysterious girl also opted to stay quiet, and rather eat a cold piece of pizza, while rocking rearward and balancing on the back legs of the skinny-legged chair. Smirking, she set the box on the ground and slid it across the floor to me. Throwing her a cautious look, I timidly reached into the box and grabbed a slice of cheese pizza.

After a few minutes of silence, I decided to speak up. Swallowing a bite, I said, breaking the stillness, "what's your name?" I put emphasis on _your_.

Lifting her lashes, she raised an eyebrow.

"Me?"

It was my turn to smile. "Yeah - who else?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly as if my words insulted her, but nevertheless, replied with the dignity I expected from her confident self. "Jessie."

That was the name I was after!! Jessie... My angel... My friend... My love... 

My heart skipped a beat... I would've jumped 10 feet into the air and yelped in pure happiness!

"You remember?!" I cried in sheer joy, jumping to my feet. I felt the strong desire to take her into my arms and hold her there for days, but a mental grip held my back firmly. I regained my composure and simply grinned even broader.

However, Jessie opted to raise an eyebrow in puzzlement and give me a look of confusion. Her frown was soon to be replaced by a wry and curious smirk. "Remember what?"

"You know..." At that moment, I was hoping I wouldn't have to spell it out for her, in the process, making myself look like an idiot. 

"I know... what...?" she inquired. As fast as the grin appeared, it disappeared. "I do _not_ know what you're on, but whatever it is, you'd better sober up and quit talking trash." 

By that point in time, she had placed her slice of pizza on the surface of the table, picked the brown paper bag up again and was slowly making her way over to where I stood.

"Remember?" I cried in frustration, but at the same time, not giving her enough time to answer. "You were a ghost and you visited me every night and saved me from the clutches of Jessibelle?!" I bit my bottom lip nervously. "Please? Remember..."

She grimaced. "I am awfully sorry kid... but I was born into a family of poverty and grew up without a father, and soon enough, without a mother. I don't recall being a ghost."

In poverty? Without parents? But wasn't she my angel just two days ago? 

Then it struck me: during the transformation, she said she wouldn't remember **our** past... never. She must've undergone a memory recreation.

"But-but... I lo-" Quickly, I paused myself before continuing. Jessie threw me a look of confusion yet again. "I mean... You're my angel... my one and only." Without another word, I bowed my head miserably.

My goddess didn't remember... there was no way in the world I could make her see... 

If she wanted, she could quite easily laugh and poke fun at me like many of my kindergarten friends did. 

But instead, I was greeted with a pair of nervous arms circling around my shoulders. Opening my eyes slowly, I could see that she had taken me into a warm hug. Nervously I returned it. Her face was nuzzled into my lavender hair, and eyes-closed and smiling, she whispered something into my ear delicately.

"Don't expect any more hugs of these types in the future," she murmured, "I just felt sorry for you." I felt her breath on my ear, making me shiver.

Somehow, her words didn't perceive me as true. 

Wait... that was what I desperately yearned. 

But still, I could sense that she was enjoying the embrace and I was surprised that a person who lives alone would be so brazen with someone she just met. Waiting a few seconds after her mutter, I decided to hush something in return. 

Slightly loosening my grip around her waist, I pulled away at the tiniest and said, "You know, you're not as harsh as you like people to think..." I sighed, "I like you."

I instantly wished to set back time and redo that little quote. _I like you_? What would that mean to someone of her type? Did she think I was insulting her - because being liked must mean that you did something nice and doing something nice is... good? I certainly thought so, when she pulled away a few seconds later to look into my eyes. But when we met, I didn't see anger... only sadness and confusion. 

"You'll wish you never liked me," she replied simply. "Not after you see the real me. No one ever likes Jessica Lawson." She exhaled deeply and audibly. 

"I do." I smiled again and looked further into her eyes. "You're nice." I tensed a bit. "And that's the truth." 

She frowned and suddenly shoved my aside and glared at me. "It isn't!" she growled. "You barely even know me and you're saying that I'm your angel?! And..." she fumbled for words here and there, her voice cracking, "now you're telling me that I'm nice?!" She turned away to see that she had accidentally dropped her brown paper bag in her fury and now its contents were spilled onto the floor.

I bowed my head once more. This time it wasn't in sadness, but in shame. I had disappointed Jessie. 

"Oh, shit!" she cursed and undertook in picking up whatever had dropped and putting it into the brown bag.

Suddenly, something caught my eye - namely the insides of the bag. What looked like a white powder was washed across the concrete. A look of horror crossed my face. 

"Is that-?" I started toward Jessie and fell to my knees and began to scoop it up and brush it towards her. I was raised in a clean, drug-free life of the upper class and I was never allowed to mingle with 'commoners' like my angel (who, in my personal belief, was only placed in the current society rank, by destiny - if not where she is now, she might not have found me, laying in the snow). They, compared to my family, seemed so... carefree. Without a worry in the world. I thought it was because they didn't have an abusive fiancé on their tails.

But I knew what drugs were when I saw them.

She looked at me with a guilty look in her blue eyes and bit her lip. "Cocaine." 

My jaw slackened and I shot her a worried look. "Isn't that an illegal drug?"

"No shit, sherlock!" she snarled and desperately shoved whatever I handed her into the bag. Then, she lifted her head and narrowed her eyes into mine. "Don't you dare tell..." she growled.

"I won't!" I shouted back. 

Jessie sighed in relief. "Good." She resumed her work in picking up the white particles.

"But..." 

She snapped her head once more in my direction with fire in her eyes. "But what?" Her short temper wasn't one to be ignored, obviously. 

I gulped. "What if I do tell the police?" I didn't wish to do that at the slightest! I was just planning to lure her using verbal bait. 

"Then you'll definitely be in for a tongue-lashing and a severe punishment... why?" She raised a curious eyebrow, edging closer toward me.

I smiled. "Can I stay with you?" I asked hopefully. I looked into the depths of her eyes with expectation.

"What do you mean?" she frowned and blinked.

I avoided her gaze for a minute and let it wander. "I don't know..." But I knew perfectly well why... I couldn't deny that. "Because... I want to be your friend." I blushed deeply and peered at her equally as red face. "I promise I won't dob you in. By being with you twenty-four hours a day, you can make sure I don't blurt out any..." I glanced back down at the cocaine, "secrets..."

She smiled warmly and her grimace disappeared instantly. "Okay." She gave an approving nod of her head.

"So..." I said after a few seconds of an uneasy silence, "friends?" I raised a hand cautiously in front of her. 

She fumbled for a moment to brush the powder off of her hand, but soon enough connected hands with me. 

"Friends. Best friends."

Words couldn't described what I felt when our hands joined in true fellowship. It was like a huge firework being set off within the boundaries of my heart. A tremor of happiness traveled through my heart like a ripple in water. That's what the handshake did to me. I never encountered that feeling since I got Growly... 

Growly...?

Quickly, I disconnected hands with Jessie. Desperately I searched the room for my beloved dog. Nothing. Nothing living, anyway. With the exception of Jessie and me. Where was he?

"Where's my Growlithe?!" I cried, turning back in her direction. I narrowed my eyes at her. But she threw me a helpless look and shrugged. 

"I don't know..."

"Didn't he make it?" I felt an onset of tears coming on and I quickly rubbed the sleeve of my jumper against my eyes. 

She bit her bottom lip nervously and rubbed her forearm with her other hand. "I told him to look for help. I even tied a note to his collar. Some people found him, as I found after I asked around town."

My heart skipped a beat. "My parents?!" I suddenly cried in fright. 

"Yep." She simply spoke and nodded. "And... they gave me this." She reached behind her and into her back jeans pocket to remove a white piece of paper, A4. It was folded neatly into quarters. Silently and fast-paced, she opened it to reveal a reward poster. She pressed it face-up into my hands.

It was... me. But that wasn't what I cared about. There was bold writing in the 10 centimetres that wasn't taken up by the photo of me (part of a family photo taken when I was 9, though at that moment, I was 12 - still, it didn't make much difference) and the word _MISSING _in bright red marker. 

****

REWARD: $900

Considering that my parents were multi-billionaires, that was a puny amount of money, if I say so myself. And I wasn't being stuck-up and comparative, but deep down inside, my heart was aching. Nine hundred dollars, indeed! Jessie nervously avoided my eyes and bit her lip. 

I felt myself becoming angry.

"I thought they loved me," I sighed, containing my urge to punch something carefully. I knew that they didn't like me (let me rephrase that: hate!), but not love me? I was their own son! I heard Jessie cough and I turned my attention back to her.

"I'm sorry," she spoke up. Quick to change the topic, she said, "Listen, why don't we go to sleep?"

I frowned at the question, with a look of confusion plastered on my face. 

Jessie smiled and chuckled lightly. "You've been asleep for over half a day - its ten o'clock..." she stifled a loud yawn, "I'm gonna go to sleep. Kay?" She reached for a satin dress laying sprawled across the floor and let the material linger in her fingers.

I nodded slowly. "Okay. Me too." Quietly and swiftly, she turned away and without hesitation, shrugged her jacket off her shoulders and pulled her tank top off only to drop it on the floor to join her coat. After easing her jeans off, she slipped into the glossy garb. With a slight blush, I, myself, simply crawled away and beneath the blankets of my 'bed'.

"If I'm not here in the morning," she sighed, taking her hair out of her ponytail and throwing the ribbon across the room and landing neatly on the pile of unfolded clothes, "don't worry. I'll be somewhere."

"Where's somewhere?" I asked, turning onto my side. 

"Somewhere," she whispered and lifted the sheets up and crawled in next to me.

I raised an eyebrow, but let the word answer away. "Oh."

Suddenly, I felt her arms around me. "Goodnight," she whispered again into my ear, tucking a few strands behind it. I smiled at the gesture. 

"Sweet dreams," I breathed almost unheard as her eyelids slid shut over her bright azure eyes and drifted into deep slumber. "Sweet... dreams..." I sighed again as I fell asleep as well.

~~~~~~~~

I woke up to the sound of music. 

Someone was playing _Jolly Old St. Nicholas _on the clarinet in the middle of the night. I could tell it was nighttime because the hatch that led to the outside was hanging open, allowing delicate moonbeams to fall across the concrete floor. Snow intermingled with it in a nice white pattern.

The slow music was played lightly on a B flat scale and on an alto saxophone. Musical lessons were a must for about to be millionaires. I learnt all the different instruments, key signatures, flats and sharps and how to tell them apart from each other just by hearing a note, plus a heap more. 

Hesitantly, I reached over to wake Jessie. But, when I expected my hand to meet her shoulder, I felt only empty air. 

"Jessie?" I whispered, my eyes darting to where she lay when I drifted asleep myself. Rubbing my eyes awake, I let my eyes of green trail toward the door that led to the unknown. 

Deciding to take my chances, I stood up, letting my sheets drop to the ground and wandered towards the open hatch. But not before almost tripping over Jessie's clothes in the process. Stifling I yelp of surprise, I untangled the jeans from around my legs. I took one rung of the ladder into my grasp carefully before looking up.

I saw a masterpiece.

The entire stretch of dark, blue night sky was covered with dazzling, bright stars. Beautiful, it was. The saxophone was heard more clearly from that point and hesitantly I thought about whether I should climb the ladder and see who was playing.

With a heavy exhale of nervousness, I grabbed two rungs up with my free, right hand and let my left leg hang on the bottom one. After contemplating, I mounted up my courage to climb the ladder and face whatever was playing that music.

As I reached the top and peered at my surroundings, I realized where had been I taken.

In front of me lay something that resembled a town square, with a huge, tinsel-covered, evergreen tree standing in the middle. Beautiful... Jessie's hole-in-the-ground was, indeed, simply a... hole... in the ground. It was probably used to be a bomb-shelter for the wars that had plagued the Indigo Plateau ages ago, and she just happened to come across it.

Across a snow covered road, was a huge church alit with magnificent lights and candles of all sorts. Either side of the holy building lay a line of quaint shops, each with a wreath mounted on their doors. Christmas decorations made every storefront look almost magical in their own special way. Some of them even felt familiar to me in a funny way - especially the candy store painted purely with blues hues. 

Feeling a sudden chilly breeze I pulled my blue jacket around my shoulders further, but despite it, I continued to enjoy the decorations.

"Wow..." I muttered in pure adoration. Despite the cold winter wind lashing against my cheek, I could feel the warmth of the lights flashing across my face. 

Red, blue, yellow, green... every colour imaginable!

As a kid, my parents never spent as much as a cent on Christmas decorations and I was realizing what I had missed out on for 10 years. Above the sound of cars in the distance, the saxophone still prevailed over it all, causing me to look in the direction of the player.

Shooting a look to the left, I saw Jessie. Her back was turned to me and she sat on a nearby bench (that had fallen victim to graffiti artists over the years), still in her star-printed, purple night dress. She seemed to have most of her attention fixed onto something else.

I wanted focus desperately. "Hi," I said weakly in her direction. 

Abruptly, the music stopped and Jessie turned around to face me. A gold-coloured, shiny alto saxophone lay in her lap and the strap was wrapped firmly around her shoulders. Three reeds lay on the ground, clipped or broken in half. 

She blinked. "What are you doing here?"

Biting my lip, I climbed the rest of the way and made my way over to where she sat. Sighing, I sat next to her. "Nothing. I woke up to the sound of music."

She frowned. "Oh." I kicked some dirt across the town square. 

I smiled. "What are **you** doing here?" I asked smugly.

"I was bored." She sighed and ran a hand over the different keys lightly.

A moment of silence made me feel uneasy, so I said something. "I like that song."

With a side-smirk, she answered, "Jolly Old St. Nick? Me too. Momma used to sing it to me at Christmas time." As her statement concluded, she began to physically droop with a deep sigh and her voice began to waver a bit. But, after looking to my side and, in realization that she had an audience, she regained her composure. 

I felt my face flush.

"You like christmas carols?" she asked. She fiddled with her saxophone's shoulder strap and loosening it, slipping the saxophone onto the bench. 

"Yeah," I replied with a hint of eagerness, but not overly so. 

Reaching beside her, she pulled an instrument case to her side, opened it and placed the alto saxophone inside before wiping it down with the hem of her dress. With that, she slammed it shut, did up the latches and slid it into some nearby bushes.

"Don't worry," she said before I could query about her actions, "no one ever comes this way. Follow me, I gotta get changed."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She side-smirked wryly. "We're going somewhere."

I frowned. "Where's somewhere?"

"Somewhere..."

I sighed deeply. She made her way to her hole and clambered down the ladder, but when I tried to follow her, she shouted something.

"Hey!" she growled sharply, "I'm getting changed here!" With that, a pair of sneakers, denim jeans and a clean white shirt were thrown at me. "Change into those - they're a friends'" I fumbled with them before looking around and deciding to change behind a bush that wasn't adorned with coloured lights. 

I sighed and slipped out of my ridiculously 'proper' jacket that my mother made me wear only a day ago, and Pikachu shirt underneath and replaced them with the white one. I fumbled slightly as I took my black shorts off, as I thought about where I was.

The shop! The candy store that my parents took me to when I was about 5 years and the shopkeeper gave me free Gummy Caterpies behind my parents' backs. Phil..? Was it? I couldn't quite remember... but I definitely remembered the small lolly-shop. 

Grabbing the jeans and pulling them up as high as they would go, I poked my head out of the bush and cast a look over the square. It was still there! After five years! I was in Viridian City!!

It's small cerulean door frame was lined lightly in holly, with a beautiful gold tinted, snowy white wreath in the exact centre of the indigo-painted door. Just below it lay the same brassy, fake candy-cane door-knocker. Even the sign lofted on the roof was left unchanged, with the words,_ Phil's Candy Bar_ painted in dark, navy blue on a soft azure background. It's exterior was decorated in an array of colours. Inside, the lights were still on, telling my intuition that the shop was still open. 

With a smile, I pulled the sneakers on and not bothering to tie them up, began across the market square, leaving a trail of footprints in the snow.

But before I could even reach a quarter of a way, a voice stopped me. "Hey!"

In reaction to the sudden presence, I spun around to meet the warmth glance of Jessie. Dressed in a pair of baggy overalls and a skivvy, she smirked and flicked her long braid over her shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked slyly and with curiosity, "Without me, I mean." With that, she strode up to me and stopped right in front of me with a smug grin. I watched uneasily as she circled me... almost casually... And though she stood a fair few centimetres shorter and had a smaller frame, she seemed almost... domineering. 

My reaction? I simply stood there, figuring that she might like to make a quick stop at that special shop. "There," I stated, pointing across the road and at the blue candy store. 

Following my hand, she caught the store in her gaze. "Oh." With that, she turned to face me, "Cool." 

She thought I was cool! That **had** to be a good thing! I felt a weird sensation rush through me. It must be... 

"You want to come?" I offered. My eyes trailed off toward the shop in the distance.

This broadened her smile. "Sure." She gazed up at my face warmly. I smiled back. Having done that, we walked briskly across the square side by side silently. The Christmas tree's tinsel reflected the light of adornments on shops and produced its own illumination. 

My feet planted themselves in front of it involuntarily. I let my eyes explore the green branches and I found that they were covered in paper and straw ornaments. Some were angels, others were reindeer, Santas, baubles, bells and other Christmassy things. Jessie elbowed me roughly and when I turned to face her, she was pointing upwards above my head, but at the tree. Casually, I followed her gesture - and there hanging limply on one branch, were two straw turtledoves painted white. 

Jessie beamed proudly at them, "They're mine. Hand made them myself." But, before I could answer with a compliment, she said: "every Christmas, every kid in town makes something to add onto the town's Christmas tree. Everything on it goes to charity. And on Christmas day, the town mayor showers it with money - one thousand dollars in total...two hundred five dollar notes..."

I stood there with my mouth agape. "That's a lot of money." 

This made her smile and gaze warmly at the turtledoves. "Yeah..." she sighed, "I wish I was that rich..."

A wave of guilt rushed through me. Nervously, I shifted from foot to foot. She eyed me suspiciously, but shook it off with a quick shake of the head and threw a hand over her shoulder coolly.

"Com`on," she smirked wryly, "we have a candy store to visit." Having said that, she made her way across the square and to the door of the small shop. Cautiously I followed her, dodging a family of eight (also consisting of six children) and stumbling to her side, where she stood with her hands planted on her hips. 

With a crooked side-smile, she pushed open the door and walked in. As the door was opened, I caught a glimpse of what was inside...sucker candies of all kinds...every type of bubblegum there was...even multi-coloured fairy-floss...and more! 

That very thought of food gave me more courage. Food always gave me optimistic feelings hiding deep inside. In my years as a kid, I relied on edibles as a guidance through life. It always took my mind off of the irrelevant things in mortality (like being proper...ugh!). My favourite foods were special to me and gave me the warmest feelings and sent nice tremors up your spine whilst chewing...these included donuts and all kinds of candy. 

But the foods I hate give me the most horrific emotions...like of Jessibelle. These were broccoli and mashed potatoes. It practically sends chills down your backbone!

As I pushed through the door from behind Jessie, I felt the warm glow of light upon my cheeks as if the cold harsh wind of the outside was shut out. I smiled contentedly and savored the feeling whilst gazing at the interior of the seemingly small store. Three different families with kids of about my age and under were roaming around, deciding on whether to purchase huge multicoloured lollipops with a diameter of 20 centimetres or maybe the sugar-coated ears.

It was only a limited sized shop, but every wall was lined with shelves covered in jars, containing every kind of candy in the world almost! I stared in wonder at the variety of confectionery. There were even some types of lollies with ridiculous names and some more that could only exist in a child's wildest dreams. Fairy-floss that turned into bubblegum when it melts in your mouth, was stacked on the utmost shelf, next to the millions of jarred gobstoppers. That was what caught my attention first. My mouth practically drooled. 

Jessie, on the other hand, whom I had ignored since arrival, was talking to the shopkeeper. "James," she cried across the hullabaloo of the children when she caught my attention, "come here!" She stood leaning against the counter and waving one hand in the air, waving. 

Obediently, I wandered across the room to where she positioned herself next to an old man wearing an apron with the words _Phil's Candy Bar_ in a bold red. His whitening hair barely covered his scalp, leaving three quarters of his head bald. Below that was a chubby, bright and cheerful red face, rectangle-framed glasses mounted on a small nose, laughing blue eyes shone from behind the lenses. Finally, another familiar face! 

He laughed a low chuckle, holding his tubby belly. "Well, now!" he bubbled with infectious glee, "is that young James I see there?"

I grinned and returned his chortle. "Yes, it is Mr. Phil!"

Jessie gave me an odd side-glance, "You know Phil?" she queried. 

The old man chuckled once more. "He sure does," he told a confused Jessie, and then turned to me, "I still remember sneaking you those..." he faltered for a second, and scanned the rows of candy, looking for the correct word to use.

"Gummy Worms?" I offered hopefully. 

He smiled warmly. "Yep! A packet of assorted homemade Gummy Caterpies." 

"Mmm... Gummy Worms are my favourite!" Jessie beamed. 

I spun around to face Jessie, "you know Mr. Phil too?" 

"Yeah, since I was little. Right after the incident with my mum..." her voice began to waver and she looked to the ground in supposed woe. I so badly wanted to put an arm around her in comfort though I was in wonder at what _the incident with her mum_ could mean. But the shopkeeper beat me to it. 

Phil looked up hopefully and was quick to change the subject. "She was good help in the taste-testing department, eh - `Puff?" He ruffled her braided hair playfully, making her giggle. "Which reminds me..." he remembered, releasing Jessie from the fierce grip and reached behind the counter to pull out two paper bag packets. "Would you like some free samples of some new stock?"

Jessie and I turned to each other simultaneously then back to the old man and nodded our heads eagerly. 

He chuckled with his eyes bright with glee and handed us the white bundles.

"Thank you so much!" Jessie acknowledged the man with great respect toward him. Within her, it was obvious she trusted him more than anyone. I smiled sadly, though a streak of jealousy flew through me at record speed. 

After Jessie had offered her gratitude towards him, I approached him and pulled out the notes I had scavenged from my room before fleeing the Morgan estate. Hastily, I shoved everything back in except for a five dollar note. All in all, there had to be at least one thousand dollars within my reach at that very moment - and the worst that could happen was for someone unwanted to see them. I lay the money onto the counter carefully.

"Thanks for the samples," I thanked him, "can I also have two packets of Gummy Caterpies, please?"

"Sure!" Phil chortled once more, but before turning his back to fetch the confectionery, he added, "and you're very welcome, son." With that, he gathered the necessary foods, packaged them and handed them to me. I moved out of the way quickly so that another customer could be served. 

Accompanied by a wave, I said my good-byes and exited the small shop to find Jessie sitting on the bench outside, waiting for me. 

"Hey," she greeted me in her usual way, but added with a tad of annoyance, "what took you so long?" 

I simply grinned and threw the packet to her. "This."

She peered at the bag incredulously, "what are..." she opened the bag and curiously took a peek, "Gummy Caterpies! Thanks James!" Suddenly, I felt her arms encircling me. And, oh, I melted...

When I finally found the courage to hug back, she had just about pulled back. She gazed in comfort into my eyes. The sapphire in them glittered against the light of the decorations. "Now I have a surprise for you. Come with me." She tugged on my arm and I followed.

We twisted down and along the alleys and streets of Viridian City, but not without having a little chat along the way.

Jessie told me all about her life so far. She had grown up poor, with a single brother (who was confined to a mental school for a intellectual disorder - she hasn't heard of him since) and her single mother, a Team Rocket agent, was the best elite in history, according to Madame Boss, her current forewoman. It didn't help her financially, though. But it was the time they spent together that made living all the worth while. Every day that she was working, Miyamoto, the name she went by, spent time with Jessie, and pretended. Pretending was 'a lot of fun,' and all they long they would be explorers and hike across the reaches of the Amazon Jungle, or maybe be princesses in a castle, maybe even scuba divers. They did all this without even leaving their house. Then, sometimes, they would make snowgasboards (a buffet of all kinds of snow food!). It sounded like heaven - even to a millionaire's son. It is more pleasant to be poor and be loved, than to be rich and have no lone whatsoever.

But then, gradually, Miyamoto couldn't spend as much time with Jessie and sent her to a foster home, only to visit her about once a month for only about a few hours or so, then she would have to go back to work.

The worst was still to hit her... On her fifth birthday, Jessie heard news that her mother had died in the Andes Mountains during a mission! She was horrified... She went missing for about a week when she planned on trekking out into the middle of nowhere on a snow-filled night in search of someone who didn't exist anymore. 

So, Jessie ran. She ran away once they found her unconscious in the snow with icy tears still clinging to her cheeks. At least they knew she was still alive. She ran all the way to Viridian City, and was found on the streets by a boy only a couple of years her senior. He took her in and gave her somewhere to live. After a while, he introduced her to the world of drugs. She vowed never to take any, though the boy was addicted. She learnt the streets of Vridian like the back of her hand and by the age of six, had mastered the 'art' of drug dealing. 

She knew it was an awful thing to do, but drug dealing was the only way for her to get money, and getting money was the only way to survive. At that point she was at her worst, she became self-destructive and tougher than ever.

But Phil found her and offered her some food. From then on, they remained close friends and she spent most of her time with him in his candy bar. 

Jessie sighed and kept her eyes fixed on the ground. "Yeah," she breathed, "that's about it." I spied the onset of tears in her eyes and leant forward to wipe them away with a finger. She lifted her lashes and looked into my eyes and smiled. Not her usual crooked smirk, nor the ridiculous hyper grin of hers...a normal smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I blushed a deep crimson. Thank goodness it was nighttime or she would've seen my face light up just like that Christmas Tree. I felt my head huddled between my shoulders in embarrassment. Luckily, she didn't notice.

Easing around a knocked over empty trash can, she glanced at me form the side, "I found something of yours. A red book. It's at my place. I'll give it to you when we get home, kay?" 

I swear, I felt so relieved...it was the only thing that I could cling to that reminded me of Jessie. But I gave more subtle toned answer.

"Kay."

Kicking a can along the ground, she said, almost bashfully, "you know, there's something about you..."

That definitely caught my attention, and I physically perked up, "huh?"

"I don't know what it is, but I think destiny has caused us to meet...like, we were fated to become best friends," she explained, "when I saw you there, lying in the snow...something, you know, clicked. And I was sure that I had found someone very special. Like...a soul mate..." Her eyes gazed into mine for one second. The sapphire jewels in them glittered with a special love one could only have for someone very special, like a strongly bonded companion. But then, she closed them and flicked a braid over her shoulder and shook her head. "I know it sounds really...very silly..."

I took her hands into mine and caressed her palms with my finger pads. "No. It doesn't sound silly. I felt the same when I first saw you." 

Removing her palms from mine, she giggled childishly and put a hand into her pocket to pull out a necklace. She held it out it me and beckoned me to take it. Cautiously, I took the thin chain between my index finger and thumb and with my other hand, ran a finger over the charm attached to it. It was half of a heart. Coloured gold, it had the word _best_ engraved almost on the very edge, filled in with red paint. In the center was an engraved heart, but this time, filled in with an azure colour. Almost the same colour as my hair. I smiled. 

"Cool! Thank you."

She nodded. "I have one two," she said, reaching into her turtleneck and pulling out an almost identical necklace, only the heart shaped was the other half of mine. And the word _friends_ replaced _best_ and instead of being red was the azure. The same with the heart, this time, hers was a red. 

"Just like two halves of one," she cooed, slipping it back into her shirt and undoing the chain for mine. I allowed her placed the gift around my neck. Than, she stepped back to study the outcome. "Perfect."

She gestured down the alleyway we were walking down and jogged moderately, only to turn slightly and yell over her shoulder. "Come on! We're nearly there!" 

I remained confused. "Nearly where?"

"Somewhere!" her reply rang down the alley.

"Where's somewhere?"

"Somewhere."

I sighed and shrugged. I had no choice but to follow her and find out what she had in store for me.

****

To be continued... [I'm a wicked little bitch, ne?]

****

Final note: I'm sorry I took so long...family problems...This might be the last installment before I head back up to Mackay. ::sigh:: But don't worry, I'm still continuing! Yay-ness!! (But...I'll never see Moon Wolf again!! ::cries:: Oh well, I'll get over it in five minutes time.) 

Hell, this might be the last installment before my birthday. Yep! I'm soon gonna be 14 (15th January), so bleh! ::pulls down eyelid and pokes out tongue:: That was to all those people who are older. Hah!


	3. Never let it fade away

Once there was a boy. He had a dream. Sure, everyone has dreams, even the coldest and evilest of all people. But, James didn't dream of fame or riches or even taking over the world.  
  
He dreamt of friend...  
  
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Rating: PG - mild drug use and slight language. Category: Romance. POV: James.  
  
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Fox sez: I'm really really really sorry for the delay! ... Poo on me, I guess. I'm also a slow writer. And an even slower typer, which makes things... difficult.  
  
The date?  
  
It's changed now... Well, it's exactly the same. Except for the year. And I've moved it up a couple of days, 'cause I can't seem to wait six days just for Christmas when I can do it in two.  
  
23 - 12 - 94  
  
Yay! Go me. And the year? Well, I was born in '88, so I don't think I'd remember any songs from back then.  
  
=^-^;;= Oh yeah! Also another thang: in the CD drama Rocket Gang : It's a White Tomorrow!, Musashi and Kojirou state somewhere that they recieved Arbo and Dogasu as ceremonial gifts when a person reaches adulthood. So... I had to find another idea for a Chrissy present.  
  
You twit, Destiny Fox.  
  
And proud to be one.  
  
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.:: You're It : Chapter 3 - ...Never Let it Fade Away ::.  
  
"Come on! We're nearly there!" I heard her cry of happiness fill the otherwise, empty alleyway. The sudden noise spooked a wild Meowth, who raced out in front of me, almost causing me to trip. Quickly, I steadied myself uneasily.  
  
I remained confused and propped myself onto a nearby window sill and shouted, "Nearly where?"  
  
"Somewhere!" her reply rang down the alley.  
  
"Where's somewhere?"  
  
"Somewhere."  
  
Regaining my balance, I sighed and shrugged. I had no choice but to follow her and find out what she had in store for me.  
  
Racing into the unknown, I kept my senses in order, waiting for anything unexpected. But, nothing out of the ordinary occurred when I reached the end of the dark alleyway. In fact, the path we had taken led us onto a narrow, one way road lined with street lights. And on every street light hung a green, gold or white artificial wreath, each with a pretty red bow. I had never seen such a thing in my life.  
  
Parents with children were wandering on either side of the road, peeking at the Christmas displays, depicting the birth of Jesus, in shop windows, and kids laughing joyously at the special occasion with cotton candy in their tiny hands.  
  
On one side of the road, a cluster of pedestrians had grouped around a small group of musicians. Most of the instruments were skin drums, adorn with different coloured strings of streamers. Four or five ladies in brilliant sarongs and brightly dyed tops (despite the chilly weather) and plastic hibiscuses in their dark hair, were crammed tightly in a semi- circle beside the percussionists. They were probably Torres Strait Islanders, I guessed.  
  
But apart from the singers and drummers, I admired the one guy on the end: a young man in his early twenties holding a guitar. Wearing a light blue, collared T-shirt, with a picture of a Lapras in the corner, his guitar was tainted an azure to make the collar of his shirt. He stood at the end of a line of seven percussion players.  
  
The only times I had seen a guitar was when my Grandpapa played his for me when I used to visit him. He taught me how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and how to do a B-flat Major scale. I smiled fondly at the memory, though it wasn't anything to be exactly proud of. But, the guitar was my favourite musical intrument of all.  
  
Other than the guitar, I played another instrument. The piano. And I was rather good at it too... if I did say so myself. After one year of playing (I was four years old), I decided to persue it as a hobby. And what's more, my parent's approved of the practise as being proper.  
  
I was going to miss that old grand piano in the seventh lounge room... I knew it.  
  
Jessie tugged on my arm roughly, bringing me out of my trance. Confused, I turned to face her.  
  
"What?"  
  
She pointed toward the back of the band. "Look," she whispered into my ear. I followed her gesture to see a very small brass ensemble squeezed in behind the vocalists and percussionists. One trumpet player, a trombone player and, to Jessie's sincere delight, an alto saxophone player, stood there holding their instruments, wearing exotic clothing. I noticed the huge grin pasted on her face when she turned to face me again and I returned it.  
  
And then... they started playing.  
  
The singers sang Christmas carols, while the instrumentalists played the accompaniment. The style of music they played was unfamiliar to me, but next to me, I could see Jessie happily clapping along to the beat and laughing, from the corner of my eye.  
  
Though, I wasn't accustomed to the sort that rang through my ears, making my blood run faster, I felt myself tap my left foot against the bitumen road to the time of the song.  
  
The lyrics of O' Come All Ye Faithful floated above the audience that, within the three minutes had gathered in front of the band. Some kids of less than seven were even dancing to the upbeat tempo. Jessie watched them and giggled.  
  
I, also, couldn't help but smile. From next to me, she sighed - half in relaxation in association to the music, half yearning for something. I could sense it in her voice. So, I decided to do something out of the ordinary, according to my parents, anyway.  
  
Leaning over her shoulder slightly, I whispered into her ear, ever so lightly...  
  
"Hey Jess..."  
  
Almost instantly she turned to face me, almost taking out one of my eyes with a sharp flick of her ponytail. Her nose hovered inches from mine and I struggled furiously to resist the temptation to kiss her right then and there. "Yes?"  
  
I fumbled hopelessly with my words. "W-w-would...you?" Jessie folded her arms over her chest and smirked in that dominating way. I felt the blood rise irreversibly into my already pinkish cheeks. "Er - umm..."  
  
She chuckled at my embarrassment. "Whatever..." she muttered, turning away. Then suddenly lashed out to grab my arm firmly. Even if I tried (which I didn't) to escape the tightening grasp, I probably couldn't. For someone only reaching the seemingly feeble 5"2', she had an amazingly strong grip. She flashed me a grin and yelled over the loud music that had suddenly crecsendoed, "Dance with me!"  
  
"Wha-?" I cried out in surprise, shocked at how she read my mind. But before I could argue against her wishes, I felt a demanding tug on my arm.  
  
Pulling me into the fray of now a large crowd of happy, dancing people, like a dog on a leash, I staggered after her until she stopped near the very front. I simply looked at her, puzzled when she started singing and shuffling along to the tropical music. Which... left me feeling rather stupid, since I didn't know the words to O Christmas Tree and I knew that I couldn't dance by any stretch of imagination (well, other than that awful... ballet... style that Jessibelle tried to make me learn). Frowning, she stopped mid-step and upon seeing my confused face, clutched both of my hands and spun me around in a circle, again startling me.  
  
And another circle...  
  
And another...  
  
And another...  
  
And another...  
  
And...  
  
Well, you get the picture...  
  
After what seemed like centuries of spinning around with only the grip of Jessie's hands stopping me from landing on the ground, covering my rear with dirt, I felt my brain start swimming. Slowly, I sensed dizziness take control of my body. Everything suddenly became a blur of colours to me, mixing together into an ugly shade of brown as I spun.  
  
It almost made me want to vomit...  
  
Everything except Jessie, whose hands were clasped in mine. Her sapphire eyes were squeezed shut in laughter. I suddenly felt my sense of hearing disappear and I realized something; this was fun, something I had never experienced before.  
  
It seemed like the weirdest feeling... having fun... it sounded like an extraterrestrial word to me.  
  
I felt my face contort into a gleeful laugh. It grew louder as my feet seemed to grow further away and I was loosing all feeling of balance slowly fade away. Leaning forward to steady, myself, I had the sudden impression that my legs had grown numb and I couldn't stop myself fall helplessly on top of a quickly stunned Jessie.  
  
She landed with a hard thud onto the hard concrete. I heard her emit a moan of pain as I realized that my complete body weight was slowly crushing her slender frame.  
  
"James...?" she groaned as she opened her eyes for the first time after her had fallen. Then, I finally comprehended that my mouth was hovering just millimeters above hers. I tried again to resist my strong and insinctive urges and attempted to roll off of her lean build but found I couldn't.  
  
"Ooo... James..." She sighed deeply and sat up, forcing me to get off hastily and sit next to her on the pavement.  
  
I pursed my lips, worried at what Jessie was about to say and do next. "Sorry Jess...I-"  
  
She turned to me and looked into my eyes once more. No recognisable or clear emotions were bared upon her face and I felt embarrassed, which, of course, is only natural for me.  
  
"Don't worry about it," she forced through slightly clenched teeth.  
  
I let my eyes wander away from Jessie's for one split second. The islander band had stopped playing (and singing) and were shuffling through their manilla folders for their next item. I also felt the stare of some who had seen my falling and I desperately tried to hide the deep hue of crimson creeping its was slowly across my face.  
  
"Jessie... I'm s-" I started, but she was quick to answer, almost as if she knew what I was going to say.  
  
"Don't worry 'bout it," she said quite firmly. Almost demanding.  
  
But, I was worried. Was she okay? Good one, James, a voice seemed to taunt me from within. I silently scowled at it.  
  
My ego was melting into a little worthless puddle of nothingness and I knew it. And the grimace upon my face quickly faded.  
  
Fidgeting and feeling rather dumb, I found it in myself to get to my feet. Beads of sweat rolled down the back of my neck in nervousness, despite the freezing cold weather.  
  
Now everyone had their eyes on us, including half of the caroling band, who had apparantly forgotten that the other fifty percent were in the middle of playing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.  
  
I timidly held a hand out to Jessie, who still sat on the pavement in a heap of snow. Her head was bowed toward the ground and I heard a light sigh escape from her mouth. "Here," I offered, smiling and beckoning her to take my grasp. With not a second to spare, she head lifted itself slowly and she returned my smile with anticipation.  
  
"Thanks," she said, taking my hand with her own trembling one. I heaved her effortlessly to her feet and she sighed. This time, in relief. "Come on," she suggested, "we'd better go." With that, she left the crowd whose attention was now turned back to the carolers. I smiled once again and followed her lead, this time with a more lightened heart.  
  
I met with her at the mouth of the alleyway that we had exited from just minutes ago. She was leaning on a streetlamp pole with her arms folded and clear smirk on her face. Even though she was at least five feet away, it was evident that my tripping had probably cost her her egotistical stance. As I walked past, I muttered into her ear, "you might wanna turn 'round."  
  
She threw me a quizzical, yet sly glance, "why?"  
  
"Your butt's wet," I gaffled quietly to myself, but I was sure that Jessie heard - because I was given a swift and hard kick in the rear. She grabbed her own at the same time that I did, inched into the darkness of the alleyway and intuition told me that I'd better follow.  
  
It was also started to get a bit too chilly for my liking.  
  
So, believing my senses, I did. And felt something hit me from behind in the last place I wanted to be hit. It was a snowball and it struck me right in the posterior. And I was sure who it was delivered from.  
  
I gasped and silently swore to myself that I would give her a rather swift revenge - when I had found her.  
  
I tried my best not to gasp at the sudden coldness in an unexpected place and scanned the alley, striving to find her.  
  
Squinting my eyes, I tried to adjust them to the darkened shadows of the alleyway. It was only a matter of seconds in which I spotted her.  
  
Reaching into the darkness, I quickly and roughly wrapped my left arm around my attacker's waist and with my right hand, grabbed a mound of snow off of the ground and smacked it from onto her head, causing her cry out.  
  
"Hey!" Jessie's giggled, squirming around in my tight grasp, desperately trying to escape.  
  
Just like before, I fell onto the ground. But, this time, I had done it on purpose and a cushion of snow broke our fall. It would've been quite a sight, seeing two young teens play-fighting in the snow.  
  
Two young teens of the opposite gender, that is.  
  
But, it didn't bother me or Jessie. I had her pinned in the snow and with a wet backside, I felt the frigidity of the winter night take control.  
  
However, not without some sweet torture.  
  
Though I grew up in a civilized manner, I knew where every girl was ticklish. Even Jessibelle. But I never tickled her... for obvious reasons. It was either here... or there...  
  
Almost instantly, without a moments thought, my hands reached down and I let my hands stray across her stomach through her thin shirt.  
  
"James!" she gasped as inaudibly as she could. "You could at least give me a chance to fight back!"  
  
I let go of her quickly, allowing her to relax into the heap of snow. With my hands on my hips in protest, and pouting, I had started to say something, "but that's not fair, Je-"  
  
But Jessie had already leapt up and out of the bundle of white to attacked me. Her hands grabbing at my armpits, furiously trying to find somewhere to pay me back. I lay on my back with my arms behind my head, grinning like a madman, ignoring the snow and focused on making her agitated.  
  
She scowled and reached under and up my cotton shirt and I suddenly felt her fingernails softly raking my skin.  
  
"Nup," I leered still wearing that silly smile. "I'm not ticklish there either."  
  
Her perfect face contorted into a more agressive glare. "That's not fair!" She pulled back from me and folded her arms over her chest stubbornly.  
  
I raised and eyebrow and shouted back, "What?! That's so hypocritical!"  
  
"That's not fair either! I don't even know what that word means!" she retorted, with a wry smile plastered across her mouth. Her sapphire eyes shot into mine like bullets.  
  
I scoffed sacastically (maybe a little much so), "I beg your pardon?" She had risen out of the snow and was now brushing the remaining patches of white off of her jeans and shot me a playful, yet threatening glare as I, too stood up. At an intimidating height of 5 foot exactly, I was at least four inches taller than Jessie. I was rather tall and lanky with arms and legs too long for my body, but Jessie was simply skin and bone at 12 years of age. But she could beat me up any day.  
  
She turned away with her nose in the air and arms crossed once again. "I said that that's not fair, in case you didn't have the decency to listen," she replied simply and unfolded her arms and planted a pair of balled up fists stubbornly onto her hips.  
  
"Wha-What?" I blinked in her direction. Confused, I allowed myself to visually droop in defeat. She was good with her words, this girl. Alert and clever, she was well suited to living the hard way (not saying that she should). I smiled weakly at her mental and physical strength. "Sorry," I apologized, letting everything relax and I fell onto the ground with only my arms propping me up.  
  
It at least let her know that I surrendered in this one-sided war of words.  
  
She sensed my fatigue and figured that she had won this playful battle of words. "Why?" Jessie plopped herself into a huddle and glanced at me, perplexed.  
  
Her expression hinted slight amusement and I was sure that my cheeks were reddening severely.  
  
"For yelling at you," I explained, meeting her gaze. She smirked and turned her stare at the stars. I did too. And for the first time since the first insult was thrown, we had realized it had stopped snowing.  
  
"Well, you did shout at me," she acknowledged, her voice lingering a bit, "but I did too." Admitting, as easy as it looked, was hard, especially for Jessie. It was obvious in her voice.  
  
She faced me again, her elbows resting on her bent knees. I looked back at her. "You know, James," she said wearily, "that was the first time I had ever-" she yawned loudly and audibly, "...ever confessed to anyone." She smiled despite her situation - she probably saw one of the many 'firsts' as a good thing. And I grinned rather goofily back.  
  
And... was it me or when Jessie lowered her lashes slightly, she blushed?  
  
In your dreams, Jim, my mind chortled teasingly, she wouldn't blush over you...  
  
Just...maybe?  
  
Maybe not.  
  
She yawned lightly leaving her eyelids drooped and lazily-half covering her sapphire tinted eyes. But the glance she threw to me afterwards told me that her mind didn't want to be one hundred percent focused on confessions and other petty things like that.  
  
I sensed her uncomfortability with the particular subject and I decided to change the topic.  
  
"You look tired," I noted, remarking her drained expression, "you want to go back?"  
  
She yawned again, making me do exactly the same. Giggling, she started to get up to her feet. "Okay..." she said. And with that, started walking in the direction we had been walking down just about half an hour ago. Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she added something. "It sure is cold outdoors tonight...eh, Jim?"  
  
My head snapped upwards at the sudden question and slowly nodded, not sure that it was a good enough answer. She had alredy thought of a nickname for me?  
  
She laughed and turned back around and resumed strolling.  
  
I took that as a sign to follow and also stood. My rear felt wet with snow, but hell, it was the best feeling in the world. I had never been allowed to get closer than ten foot to snow, of course, unless it was behind the glass windows of my parent's mansion.  
  
The mansion forced my thoughts back to Growly. He was such a good friend. I was hoping that he would be able to stay with me. Damning myself, I wished that Jessie hadn't sent him out to look for my parents.  
  
I sighed.  
  
Destiny is a wierd thing. I knew it, too.  
  
I wish it didn't have to be this way though... with no love to exist between other than the constant pounding and yearning from within my heart. Such desire...  
  
Jessie's voice suddenly stopped me mid-daydream, "Hey, you Slowpoke! Are you comin' or not?!" I lifted my glance to see that she was just turning around the alleyway's bend. Luckily for me, she had stopped and waited. Her expression looked irritated.  
  
"Yeah..." I replied, yawning mid-sentence, "I'm coming..." Using my remaining strength, I heaved myself foward and started running toward Jessie, who smiled at me when I reached her. Stretching her hand upwards, she grabbed a pink and purple poka-dotted sheet off of a makeshift clothesline that was hanging just inches about our heads.  
  
"Jess...isn't that..." I started, but I felt my voice trailing.  
  
She quickly and intentively finished my sentence for me. "Someone else's. I know. I get that all the time from everyone else."  
  
I frowned while she pulled down the colourful sheet forcefully, "Everyone else?"  
  
"What...? Oh yeah!" she paused in the middle of wrapping the sheet around herself and I and remembered, making to concept sound like a silly one indeed, "my little drug dealing friends. You, really, don't want to mix with that sort. They're kinda..." she made an 'iffy' motion with her hand, "...wierd. If you get my drift."  
  
We started to move together along the dark and deserted alleyway.  
  
I felt her body brush lightly against mine and my entire build stiffened. "Uh..." I was quickly sent back into the real world by the impatient glare of Jessie's sapphire blue eyes. "Yeah...I get you." I replied to flash by chuckling and looking back at her again.  
  
She pushed her head against my neck and nuzzled me affectionately, causing me to slightly jump. "I'm cold," she murmured into my chest. I suddenly felt a thin arm snake itself around my waist. This time, though, I didn't resist. Tenderly, I let myself drape one arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.  
  
We walked. Without a single word, we continued down the back street, subconsciously. I didn't really care if we got lost in the dark byways of Viridian City. Only if it were with Jessie. She seemed quite blithe in my arms and for the first time in my life, I felt strong. It really boosted my self confidence.  
  
I didn't care if she was wet and cold, and that if I caught a severe cold or what not. All that mattered was that I was close to Jessie. I blushed lightly, but I didn't feel ashamed. To an outsider, we would've looked like a young and blissful couple, happily spending the night in each other's arms. But within, it was so much more.  
  
I guess hugging could be a good enough replacement for all the things in life that I'm missing out on... Why? Why does it have to be that way? Of all the people... why me?  
  
A voice from within seemed to answer with an uncanny tone... Just be glad that you have the opportunity to be her first best friend.  
  
I sighed, yet smiled at the thought. Yeah, I shouldn't sulk over the things I didn't have... I'm to lucky to have all that I needed...  
  
Huddling closer to her, I soon realized that we had, in fact, come back to the same market square at which we started our mini-journey from. I sighed and let the multi-coloured lights of the village's Christmas tree glow against my face.  
  
I quickly recognised Phil's candy store (which had closed for the night) and the many wreaths, tinsel and other festive decorations sprinkled on top of the other shops nearby. Hardly anyone was out walking any this time. And I comprehended why after a cold draft licked at Jessie's and my own legs, causing my entire body to visually shiver.  
  
Almost half expecting Jessie to add some derogatory comment about the harsh winter wind, I peered down at her still form. Her arms had relaxed and weren't wrapped tightly around my waist, but were cushioning her head - that lay sleepily on my left shoulder. Her eyes were closed in deep slumber and I started to ponder how I didn't notice that she was dreaming before.  
  
Looking back at the empty market square, I spied the bench that we were seated at just under an hour ago. I smiled and swept Jessie into my arms and carried her to the lonely lawn-seat.  
  
I sat down without a single sound and lay her head on my lap. Wrapping the blanket around her, I looked back across the market square, and subconciously started talking in soft tones to the sleeping girl draped across my legs.  
  
"You know," I sighed, running a hand over her cheek softly, "I think you are right."  
  
She replied by moaning in her slumber and pulling the sheet firmer around herself. I smiled warmly upon her still figure.  
  
"About how we met because of destiny, remember?" I carressed her smooth, moon-white face carefully, pushing back the strands of crimson hair that had fallen over her eyes ever so delicately.  
  
I bit my lip nervously at the very thought that my ghostly true love could awaken any second now. "You're so beautiful, Jess," I cooed, almost leaning down to kiss her cheek, but stopped suddenly.  
  
The memory of just two nights ago crept back into my mind...  
  
  
  
"But... there is an underside to it. If you display any physical love toward me... then, I can't remain in a living state - that means, that I'll return to my spirit form."  
  
  
  
  
  
...I forced myself, very reluctantly I might add, to draw myself away from her just as my lips were about to graze her own. It was a good thing too. Her eyes quivered slightly and I blushed - at both the aspect of almost kissing her and my dream angel waking up in my arms.  
  
After letting out a low yawn, Jessie opened her eyes slowly to find herself gazing into mine unintentionally. Blinking the sleep out of her eyelids wearily, she moaned something.  
  
"James...? Is it morning already?" she asked, propping herself up with her arms and sat up next to me.  
  
I chuckled. "No... not yet."  
  
She yawned again. "What time is it?"  
  
"I don't know," I replied, shrugging.  
  
Staring out at her surroundings, Jessie sighed. "I think it's about eleven..." she estimated. I stood up and stretched my limbs. I realised how long it had been since I had done some proper walking. Jessibelle nor my parents didn't like the idea of walking, so everywhere we went, Hopkins, the butler, drove us. Even if it were a hundred metre walf to fetch the daily paper.  
  
"I'm a bit tired," I admitted, looking back down at her. Pausing slightly, I alotted her some time to reply. I even coughed... more from the increasingly cold weather.  
  
No answer.  
  
"Jess?" I ventured futher. I leant over to find that she had, indeed, fallen back to sleep with the purple and pink sheet draped across her slender figure.  
  
Smiling, I lay down beside her and half-covered myself with whatever blanket Jessie had left. I sighed lightly as I felt her snuggle against my chest. And I uttered seven sweet words into her ear.  
  
"I love you...sweet dreams, my angel."  
  
Tentatively, I closed my eyes...  
  
An image flashed in my brain. A...a red rectangular object...  
  
A box?  
  
... No! It was a book!  
  
My eyes flew open.  
  
The diary! my mind screamed frantically.  
  
I had forgotten all about it!  
  
What would happen if I didn't write in it on the allotted date? Would she disappear into nowhere? I knew that the bond between my love, the diary and myself had to be kept strong and I couldn't even make sure that it didn't sever! I would've slapped myself at the thought if I could...  
  
Carefully and as quietly as a mouse, I reached down to shake Jessie awake, though I knew that I'd regret it.  
  
With my hand on her shoulder, I tried to shake her out of slumber as delicately as I could. Only within a couple of seconds did she start to stir.  
  
Her eyes opened slowly and she moaned something out of annoyance.  
  
"Huh? James...?"  
  
Her eyes, though heavy lidded, penetrated mine in a strange mix of fatigue and peevishness and I swallowed nervously.  
  
"Umm...I-I, well," I started, but before I could finish my stammering, she sat up and yawned audibly. With a firm stretch of her arms, she stood up onto her feet dizzily and turned to me.  
  
Jessie sighed and blinked half in annoyance and half trying to wake up slowly. "What?" she demanded rather firmly.  
  
"Do you remember finding a red book?" I asked her desperately. I felt myself groped her hands to get her attention. She looked my in the eye with a raised eyebrow.  
  
She frowned slightly, "But it's empty. What good is an empty-"  
  
So she did have it! I gave my gratitude with a loose, but lovable hug and she let out a sharp intake of breath in surprise, cutting off her sentence.  
  
"Great! Where is it?" I quickly released her. She gently pried me off of her and gave a motion towards her 'hole-in-the-ground.'  
  
"Down there," she replied simply. "You can go get it tomorrow... I need to sleep."  
  
What? Tomorrow?! I had to get to that book now! ... But how? Something clicked. Maybe... just maybe...  
  
"Well, you obviously can't sleep out here in the open," I rebuttled quickly and eagerly.  
  
She shrugged. "I guessed you're right. For once. I thought Whitney was stupid..." She gave the smirk again. Otherwise, I would've shrugged off the intimidating gesture. But not this time. I didn't ever stop to wonder who Whitney was.  
  
I felt rather singed at the remark. What exactly was she implying? That I was dumb or something. I got enough of that from Jessibelle. I sighed, but held myself back. I didn't want to get into another silly word argument like before.  
  
"Right..." I replied uneasily, standing up and ducking under the bushes into the darkness with the pink and purple polka-dotted blanket trailing from my hand.  
  
I heard her following me tentatively. Her joggers had caused a thin stick to snap.  
  
A warm hand was placed on my shoulder in a friendly way and I abruptly turned to face Jessie. "James, are you mad at me?" she asked cautiously. I looked back at her with confusion in my eyes.  
  
"Why would I be mad at you?" I inquired, bending down to lift the door to Jessie's home. It landed against the cold, wet ground with a muffled thump.  
  
She laughed nervously. "Well... it just seemed like that. Y'know? When I... kinda insulted your intelligence."  
  
I smiled. "That's okay. I'm not mad, anyway," I said, clambering down the ladder into the hole.  
  
As she followed my lead, Jessie asked: "Sure?"  
  
"Of course." Replying warmly, I stopped at the very bottom of the ladder and waited for her to reach my altitude, then I grasped her tiny waist, heaved her effortlessly into the air and landed her lightly onto her feet.  
  
She turned around in my arms and faced my again, gingerly. "Friends?" she asked again.  
  
I laughed as if the answer to the question was as obvious as the fact that I will love Jessie from beginning to end. And even further than that too! My love for the ghost was unconditional - nothing could make me stop adoring her.  
  
I encased her gently in a loving embrace. "Until all time ends," I mumbled into her hair. "And I remind you... that will be forever, because time is immortal, just like our companionship." She looked into my eyes with a coy smile.  
  
When I pulled away rather disinclined I could see that some of her locks had released themselves from their ponytail. Wisps framed her face delicately, and with the pale light cascading onto her from above, she looked no less like a goddess. Reaching down to her waist, I noticed that her hair was so long. No doubt about it, either.  
  
And she's the most beautiful soul ever. No matter how much she resembled Jessibelle, I can love her forever and a day. They may have looked similar on the outside - but that's where the similarities end.  
  
I yawned. "I'm tired," I said sleepily. Jessie edged out of my grasp to flip a switch on the wall to fill the one roomed house with minimal, but enough light.  
  
"Me too," Jessie agreed. "It's late. We'd better get some sleep." My eyes followed her as she gracefully crossed the room to stand in front of a pile of neatly folded clothes on a table. Shuffling among the pile, dropping a couple of shirts along the way, she grasped a long, cotton, purple nightgown. "What do you think?"  
  
I laughed softly as she held the top of the sleeves against her shoulders and twirled around in a ballerina style spin on one foot while the other hovered a few inches above the concrete floor. The movement made her look just like a ballet dancer too, but in a funny way that would make one gawk rudely and giggle. "Very nice," I commented, trying to keep my chuckle down.  
  
She replied by smiling prudishly, and waved a hand at me in a annoyed state. "You could at least turn around..."  
  
My heart jumped in embarrassment a beat in mid-thought. I suddenly was brought back into reality and blinked away the uncertainty.  
  
"Oh..." I murmured, my eyes glazed, "sorry." I felt the heat rising in my cheeks. I hate it when that happens.  
  
What was...I thinking? Nothing, probably. I tend to do that sometimes, you know - black out for a few seconds, but you still know where you are, but don't have a clue what you're doing. I was swatted at viciously despite how sleepy she was.  
  
I got the point and swiftly turned on my heels to face the concrete wall of her 'house'. In front of me was a small dressing table with four drawers crammed tight with clothing. The wooden cupboard was lined with stickers of Pokémon in different poses. There seemed to be numerous amounts of cat Pokémon... or was it just me?  
  
On top of the dressing table was a small mirror, cracked in one corner. It, too, had a Pokémon sticker on it's surface. But this time it was a Rapidash. Alongside the mirror, was a collection of different, coloured ornaments bundled into a small straw basket. There had to be at least fifty all up. Small, colourful, plastic things, they were. Probably, altogether worth only five or so dollars. But they obviously held sentimental value.  
  
I smiled as my eyes fell over an emerald green Growlithe shaped decoration. Curiously and carefully, I took it into my fingers carefully, though it was plastic, and ran the pads of my fingers over it's intricate surface smoothly.  
  
The feeling of warm breath suddenly lingered at my neck. "You like it?" the voice said quietly.  
  
I turned around to face the not-so-unknown presence. "Yeah," I replied. I looked down at Jessie. If I thought the nightie looked cute as it was, it didn't look half as good as it did on her then. Her eyes seemed to smirk at me, matching her expression perfectly. She sure seemed to do that alot.  
  
"You can have it if you want," she beckoned lightly. My stomach heaved in mixed emotions. Her eyes lowered themselves the other many plastic figurines. "I have heaps of them anyway."  
  
My eyes widened. "Really?"  
  
Jessie simply giggled and said, "Of course." Her eyes strayed from the ornamental decorations and onto the drawer surface. She reached behind me to take something. "And here's..." she produced it, thrusting it in my direction, "your book."  
  
I laughed, accepting the motion and taking it into my left hand, whilst the other held the green Growlithe tightly. "Wow! Thanks alot. I was looking for that."  
  
"You're welcome," she half-spoke, half-yawned. "I'm so tired..." She reached up to rub her eyes.  
  
We stood there for a couple of seconds in silence before I spoke up. "Um... I need something to sleep in..."  
  
Jessie, who was about to fall asleep, blinked a number of times and shook her head out of her daze. "Wha... Oh yeah! Well, I have a couple of shirts that are too big for me. You wouldn't want to wear a skirt or a really tight tank top, anyway." She stumbled towards the drawer slowly and shuffled through the many shirts for a few seconds before pulling out a baggy T-shirt and shorts.  
  
It was my turn to be surprised.  
  
The shirt was big, I'll give you that. It had a thick collar and a rather large pocket that was stitched above a picture of a Clefairy. And the shorts? They were pink.  
  
Pink.  
  
Jessie must've seen my confusion. "They were my birthday present from a guy with no sense of size. So are you gonna wear them or not?"  
  
I reached for the clothes slowly. "Okay," I replied uneasily. She smiled and suddenly became interested in fixing up the sheets on the bed. This gave me time to change.  
  
After pulling on the shorts, I realized how comfortable they were. It's not really like anyone's going to see me. Other than Jessie, of course. And the shirt was a size too big. Just the way I like it.  
  
I walked up behind Jessie after changing and scanning the room, I asked, "So...where do I sleep?"  
  
She turned on her heels as soon as I queried and pointed to a mass of blankets laying in an assortment on the floor. "There."  
  
I blinked uncertainly, "But... isn't that where you sleep?"  
  
Nevertheless, that mischievious smirk spread across Jessie's lips as she flipped the switch and closed the unusual door to her home, plunging us almost in complete darkness. "Well," she said rather brazenly, "you can always sleep outside if it ain't good enough for you..."  
  
Without hesitation, I hastily replied, "Never mind."  
  
Moving across the room coyly to pick up a blanket, she threw me a perplexed look. "Are you going to sleep or what?" The mere movement was graceful... I sighed and followed, only to stop at the foot of her messily made 'bed'.  
  
I blinked. "Oh...yeah." I quickly placed the red diary on the floor, too tired to plonk it onto the already cluttered dresser. Anyway, it was too dark, as well.  
  
With a quick smile and a yawn, I flopped down beside her into the tangle of blankets. Jessie threw the bed linen over us and lay down. I mimicked her action and placed my hands behind my head.  
  
"Hey, James?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
I felt Jessie shift position next to me. Her close proximity wasn't helping either. In the process, she accidently flung a misguided arm into my stomach, causing me to inhale sharply. But, she obviously didn't realize.  
  
"I was just wondering. I mean," she breathed out deeply, and pulled the sheets up higher, "where did you come from? People don't just fall from the sky or something. I found you in a pile of snow unconcious, yet that's all I know. And since I've told you my story... you should really tell me yours."  
  
I blinked despite myself. My story? My past? My wealthy childhood of having anything I could possibly dream of? Should I? I gulped nervously. I'll lie, I told myself quietly, and hopefully Jessie won't think I'm lying.  
  
"Well... I'm just like any other person. I grew up not too far from here. But one day, I decided to run away." I said the whole thing quite swiftly. But she seemed to be buying it, smiled and prompted me.  
  
"Why would you want to run away for?"  
  
I swallowed nervously and continued. "I wanted some excitement in my life. Something different. I stole some Pokéballs from the nearest PokéMart and decided to go on my own Pokémon journey."  
  
Jessie moved her leg next to mine. "That sounds cool. I've always wanted to be a Pokémon trainer and go meet new people and new Pokémon. How does that seem?"  
  
Smiling, I answered, "That's great."  
  
Suddenly, something clicked in my mind. "Hey, have you heard of Pokémon Technical?"  
  
"Pokémon Technical? Isn't that an academy for really really smart people who want to be Pokémon masters?"  
  
"Yeah. I've always wanted to ge there."  
  
"Me too! ... But I don't have enough money..."  
  
I listened to Jessie's last sentence and remembered the many thousands of dollars that I grabbed from my parents drawers before leaving. How much money? Thousands... At least ten thousand. That's more than enough for two lots of tuition, according to some of the brochures I've read. I smiled to myself in the dark.  
  
But I can't let Jessie know that.  
  
"Yeah... me too."  
  
With that said, my eyelids slowly felt heavier and heavier. I couldn't help myself as they drooped even lower.  
  
Jessie was probably about to fall asleep as well...  
  
And everything went dark...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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Finally. Chapter three is finished. Hey, that's quite an accomplishment for me.  
  
Yes.  
  
I've deleted and redone the whole thing over at least three times now. I didn't like the way it turned out the first two times... Hey, I said I was sorry!  
  
But, I'm just dandy now.  
  
Luv, Destiny Fox. 


End file.
